Tough World T20 draw excites Afridi
‘I don’t want to live in history’
New Zealand’s Kane Williamson bats against Sri Lanka on day four of their first international cricket Test at University
Cricket Oval in Dunedin, New Zealand, on Dec 13. (AP)
KARACHI, Dec 17, (AFP): Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi on Thursday said he hoped a tough World Twenty20 draw would motivate his team to win the title for the first time in seven years and beat arch-rival India along the way.
The 2009 champions are placed in Group 2 of the Super Ten round in the sixth edition of the World Twenty20 to be held from March 8April 3 2016, along with hosts India, Australia, New Zealand, and a yet to be decided qualifier.
Their second match will be against
Pakistan lost to India in both the group round and final of the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 and then in two subsequent tournaments.
They have also lost to India every time they have faced them in six World Cups.
But Afridi said it was time for a
Pakistan cricket superstar Shahid
Afridi. (AFP)
change. “I don’t want to live in history,” he said. “Whatever mistakes we usually make in the matches against India we have to overcome them.”
Pakistan’s recent form does not augur well. Last month they lost to England 3-0 in a Twenty20 series in the United Arab Emirates, slipping to six in the rankings.
“We made school boy errors and despite putting up good fights in all three matches we lost by narrow margins so we have to be on our toes and should not repeat those mistakes,” said Afridi, who is set to draw the curtain on his two-decade long career after the event.
Pakistan have three Twenty20 matches on their tour of New Zealand next month before featuring in the six-nation Asia Cup Twenty20 in Bangladesh in February.
“We have enough matches before the World Twenty20 so we have to find a settled combination and I hope we do well in these matches and carry that form into the World Twenty20.” runs this year.
Ahead of the second and final Test in Hamilton, which starts on Friday, Williamson described his injury as “part and parcel” of cricket and said he would not seek treatment during the series.
“It’s irrelevant if it is or not, nothing will change,” said the world’s number three-ranked batsman, when asked whether he thought the finger was broken.
“It’s part and parcel of cricket I suppose. You get a few knocks on the fingers and when it doesn’t get hit it settles a little bit and gets a bit less sensitive.”
Williamson said New Zealand will keep their winning combination for the second Test after being presented with another green-top wicket in Hamilton.
With conditions ripe for seam and swing bowling, New Zealand ruled out bringing in an extra spinner and opted to maintain their four-pronged pace attack.
New Zealand won the first Test in Dunedin by 122 runs despite losing the toss and being forced to bat first.
“We’re playing the same (line-up) as the last match, with the look of the surface we will go in with that extra seamer,” Williamson said, suggesting New Zealand would likely bowl first if they win the toss.
“It’s green, Dunedin was green, and we just feel it might be more suited to seam bowling.”
Their cause was helped by the inexperienced Sri Lankan attack being unable to capitalise on the conditions, but Williamson does not expect New Zealand to get off so lightly this time.
“I’m sure they would have learned a lot (in Dunedin) and it should be a good game,” he said.
Sri Lanka will not confirm their lineup until just before the game, but captain Angelo Mathews indicated changes were also unlikely.
“The wicket’s really green, lots of grass on it, so it’s definitely bowl first and if we bowl first we’ll look to rectify the mistakes that we did in Dunedin because we were nowhere near our best,” he said.
“This will do a lot more than Dunedin, it has a lot more grass and the seamers will come into play.
“It doesn’t really matter if we lose the series 2-0. We’ve got to go out there and keep positive right from the word go, not look to be too cautious, just go out there and play good cricket.”