Shahid Afridi Friday said that leading the side in the upcoming one-day International series, against England, would be the biggest challenge of his career in the wake of spot-fixing allegations against the three of their top players.
Afridi, who has played 27 Tests, 296 ODIs and 35 T20 matches, also said that Pakistan players were feeling the heat after the allegations surfaced.
“It has not been easy for the players. But I think the team management took the right decision to release these players even before they were suspended.
“Because not only were Salman (Butt), (Mohammed) Aamer and (Mohammed) Asif under pressure, but also the rest of the team were also feeling the heat of the allegations,” he said.
Afridi said the players were making an effort to avoid discussing the issue during training or in the dressing room and were trying to just focus on the cricket.
“The players are avoiding talking about it because they know that the best thing they can do right now is to focus on the upcoming matches and try to do well in them,” he said.
“For me, personally, it is a big challenge to lead the team in the existing conditions… But I have tried my best to relax the players and insist they just concentrate on cricket.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced two youngsters — batsman Asad Shafiq and left-arm pace bowler Mohammed Irfan — as replacements for the suspended trio, for the ODI series.
Afridi, however, said that he was consulted before the finalisation of the replacements.
“I know they have lot of talent and it is a challenge for me to try to get this team to fight hard. Obviously, we will miss the three (players), but we have good back-up talent and we have to manage with it,” he said.
Afridi also said that he hoped that the three players would eventually be cleared of any wrongdoing.
“I feel sad at the current situation and I hope it turns out well for Pakistan cricket. But for the time being, we just need to show the world that we are a top cricket nation,” he said.
Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed, too, urged the squad to stay strong and “ride the pressure” for the remainder of the tour.
“We are human beings. Everybody has pressures in life — we have to ride the pressure, not give in to the pressure,” Saeed said.
He also insisted that in spite of the spot-fixing allegations, he never thought about cancelling the tour.
Meanwhile, England team director Andy Flower thinks that the game will “survive” inspite of the recent controversies.
“It’s not great discussing these topics and nobody wants that sort of news on the front or back page. We’ve got to see the outcome of these investigations first. Obviously it’s a not a very healthy position that we seem to be finding ourselves in right now,” Flower said.
“But the game will survive, there’s no doubt about that. It’s a great game, people love playing it, people love watching it and that’s why it will survive.
