Resting senior players wrong move, says Afridi

KARACHI: Shahid Afridi doesn’t believe in mincing words. On Monday, the former Pakistan captain took a swipe at national selectors over their decision to rest key players for the forthcoming series against Australia in the UAE.

Following his team – Multan Sultans’ - victory in a PSL match against Lahore Qalandars here at the National Stadium on Monday, Afridi questioned the move to exclude senior players like current captain Sarfraz Ahmed from the national squad for a series that will take place just weeks before this summer’s World Cup in England.

Afridi was of the view that a few good performances in the series against Australia to be played in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai later this month would have given a boost to the confidence of the senior players.

“If we had been playing against a weak opposition than it would have made sense to try out new players, but this is a series against a big team and I don’t think it was right time to rest players after all it is not as if they have been playing for some 10 or 15 years,” he remarked.

“I believe that if our main players played against a team like Australia and did well it would boost their confidence for the World Cup,” he added.

Afridi was also surprised by the selectors’ decision to pick young pacer Mohammad Hasnain in the ODI squad although he has appeared in just two first-class games. Hasnain has, however, played for Pakistan juniors and has done well in the ongoing Pakistan Super League.

“I don’t know (about selecting Hasnain) but we must first give chances to the established bowlers like Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz. First look and give proper chance to the established players because after all we are playing in the World Cup.”

There have been rumours that Afridi is thinking about hanging up his boots but the all-rounder made it clear that he has no plans of retiring from competitive cricket.

“I haven’t had a very good time in this PSL but let’s see which franchise picks me next season or (if) I stay with Multan,” said Afridi, who played form PSL teams Peshawar Zalmi, Karachi Kings before joining Multan Sultans for the current season.