DUBAI - Fast bowler Wahab Riaz is confident Shahid Afridi’s return to the side as Twenty20 captain can inspire Pakistan to gain limited-overs revenge over England.
The tourists clinched an emphatic 3-1 one-day international series victory in Dubai last weekend, coming back from 1-0 down to win the next three fixtures in the four-match series.
Jos Buttler’s quickfire century with the bat swung the momentum of the UAE battle between the sides in England’s favour, following Pakistan’s 2-0 Test triumph.
And Riaz, who has been the leader-in-chief of the Pakistan attack all summer, feels Afridi’s specialist T20 presence – in his first international since the 2-0 series win over Zimbabwe in September – is what the team needs in the upcoming three-match contest, which begins in Dubai on Thursday.
“Obviously Shahid’s a great cricketer with the kind of ability he has in the bowling and batting department,” the 30-year-old told Sport360º exclusively at the opening of a new Sports Medicine Unit at Medeor 24x7 Hospital in Dubai. “With a guy like Shahid Afridi leading the team in this format we have very high hopes that he will perform well.”
Riaz freely admits that Pakistan look back on the recent 50-over clashes with the regret of not performing better, but he believes his team can start to set the record straight this week, in what is another big test ahead of next year’s ICC World Twenty20 in India.“We could have done better in the one-day international series against England but unfortunately we didn’t play as well as our opponents. We have this series now to perform better and secure a good series win. Hopefully we can go into it and hit form at the right time, we are determined to.”
Despite performing below expectations during the ODIs, Riaz was keen to point out that England deserved credit for the calibre of cricket they produced.
“We know England is a quality team and we’ve played a lot of competitive cricket against them. We were expecting England (to bounce back and come out fighting) but we didn’t play well in the ODIs and we could have done better.”
As for his own form, the Lahore-born seamer, who claimed only three wickets in the ODIs but eight in the Test matches, wants to keep it simple and continue to run in and bowl fast.
He added: “Thanks to Allah I’ve been performing well and I hope I can keep performing for the team and taking wickets for Pakistan.”