KARACHI: The Pakistan cricket team was accorded a warm welcome by its fans as they returned home early Friday.
After returning to heroes’ welcome, captain Shahid Afridi said he wanted to thank the nation for giving the team unwavering support during the World Cup 2011.
Afridi, Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq touched down in Karachi, while the rest of the players and officials flew to Lahore where the Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman were present to welcome them.
The team left Mumbai late Thursday, and arrived in Karachi in the early hours of Friday via Dubai.
Despite losing to arch-rivals India in the semi-finals, Afridi was greeted at the airport by a large number of hollering fans who chanted “Boom Boom Afridi we love you” and cries of “Pakistan team has done us proud,” and waved the Pakistani flag.
However, after all their exploits in the tournament, Afridi wanted a break.
Batting needs improvement
“To lose the semi-final was disappointing but I think now the time has come for senior players to be rested and new players to be tried out,” he said.
With two Pakistani bowlers in tournament’s highest wicket takers’ list, and Afridi as the leading wicket taker so far, the all-rounder praised his team’s bowlers but said the batting needed improvement. He underlined the need of a batting coach for the team, none of whose batsmen feature in the top ten run-getters’ list despite reaching the semi-finals.
However, Afridi refused to blame Misbah-ul-Haq, who came under heavy criticism from all quarters, for the 29-run loss.
“Misbah wanted to take the game closer to the end and then go for the big shots, which wasn’t a wrong strategy,” the captain said of his deputy.
United we fall
Members of the Pakistan squad, according to the captain, remains very supportive of each other and the defeat did not damage the unity.
“The great support shown by the nation has really held us together after the loss,” Afridi told reporters.
Interior minister’s statement mistimed
Afridi said he was disappointed to hear Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s statement on match-fixing, which was ‘mistimed’ and ‘appropriate’ given the pressure the team was under.
“The interior minister called me a few times before the match and I ensured him that the team is wholly committed to the cause of winning.”
Lahori love
Emotional scenes were also witnessed at Lahore airport where dozens of fans mobbed the players while others danced around.
“The team has done the nation proud by defeating stronger rivals to reach this semi-final. I hope they continue to perform like this and bring more laurels for the country,” Sharif said.
He announced a grand reception for the players on April 5 to celebrate their performance in the World Cup.
No comments:
Post a Comment