Afridi receives words of encouragement from Shaharyar

MOHALI, India: Everyone needs friends. For the moment, Shahid Afridi doesn’t seem to have enough of them, writes Khalid Hussain.

Pakistan’s captain has been under fire for a variety of reasons for quite some time but the latest one was his inability to lead his team to what would have been a long-awaited win against old rivals India in Kolkata last Saturday.

Recently, even Shaharyar Khan, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, joined what is a growing list of Afridi’s critics and announced that the senior all-rounder will be replaced as Pakistan’s T20 captain regardless of what happens to the national team’s World T20 campaign.

The message to him was: win or lose, we will not retain you as captain.

But that was till Monday.

Well-placed sources told ‘The News’ on Tuesday that several hours before the start of Pakistan’s must-win game against New Zealand here at the PCA Stadium, Shaharyar called Afridi and assured him that he has the complete support of the Board.

It was apparently an effort by Shaharyar to lift the team’s mood ahead of the crucial game against the Black Caps.

According to a source, Shaharyar refrained from speaking about his outburst against Afridi but told the captain to not take anything that is being reported by the media seriously.

“The chairman’s message to Afridi and his boys was straight forward. ‘Give your best in the final two group matches of World Twenty20 by staying completely focused on them so that Pakistan can qualify for the semis,” the source said.

“He (Shaharyar) also said that the Board was backing him completely as captain and wants the best out of him in the ongoing championship.”

The chairman’s call must have come as a big relief for the embattled Afridi, who still fancies extending his Twenty20 International career.

Judging from Shaharyar’s remarks on Monday it seemed highly unlikely that Pakistan will persist with Afridi either as captain or player after the World Twenty20 championship.

“He (Afridi) is captain till the World Cup… and he has said he will retire after the event. Even if he changes his mind and wants to carry on we will have to see whether he can be picked as a player or not,” Shaharyar said.

The PCB chairman was reacting to fierce criticism in the aftermath of a six-wicket defeat against India at Eden Gardens last Saturday.

But Shaharyar also defended his decision to retain Afridi as captain for World T20 despite his below-par showing both as player and captain in the lead up to the ten-nation contest.

“Afridi is an iconic figure in Pakistan and he has won us matches in the past some on his own. His choice was logical. It is natural that whenever the team loses a big match there is criticism directed at him. But I think at this stage he needs the support of everyone,” he said.