ENG vs PAK: Shahid Afridi backs Pakistan players, says they are the best talent in the country

After a humiliating outing in the three-match ODI series against England, the Pakistani side has received criticism from all corners of the cricketing world. The criticism has majorly been about the timid approach of the team while batting in the first two ODIs and then very poor fielding and bowling in the third ODI. However, Pakistan’s legendary all-rounder Shahid Afridi has come into the support of the Pakistani team. 

The former captain called the bunch of players on the England tour as the best talent available in the country and asked fans and former cricketers to back them. “At present, the players representing the Pakistan national team are the best we have in terms of talent and ability,” Afridi said in a video9 uploaded by the Pakistan Cricket Board on their official Twitter handle. 

“These players have performed consistently in recent times. These are our best players, they are the ones whose talent we have to utilise. We need to keep them motivated and hungry for success. We need to support the players in tough times, as a cricket fan and former player,” he added. 

Afridi, who has represented Pakistan in more than 500 international games, taking more than 500 international wickets and scoring more than 10,000 international runs in his 20-year long career, said that the team musty give a fight as more than winning and losing, it is the fight that matters. He further advised the team to play attacking cricket, instead of getting defensive.

“I can accept the team losing as long as they fight it out on the field. I feel that cricket has changed a lot in recent years. Now, the attack is the best defence and there is no way to succeed other than by playing with attacking intent, especially in the white-ball formats,” said the 42-year-old. 

“Our players are good at either attacking or blocking. Maybe, we need to find a middle way, especially for the ODI format. All our players need to back their abilities and play on their actual strength,” added the BOOM-BOOM who has offered PCB to help the young players and work as a motivator for them. 

For the Pakistan team, they now move to their much-favoured format of T20Is when they take on England in another three-match series. They would, however now face the first XI English side as the ECB announced the T20I squad on Wednesday, July 14, naming Eoin Morgan as the captain and almost swapping the ODI side with the team that faced Sri Lanka before the Pakistan series. The first match takes place on July 16 at Nottingham.