Shahid Afridi accolades Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team for playing so well in the Champions Trophy 2013 and he believes that with the kind of depth in talent India possess, they can even have two teams. The leg spinner has been roped into Pakistan’s squad for West Indies tour and is looking forward to give his 100 per cent effort. He demands that Pakistan Cricket Board should treat senior players with more respect which they have failed to do so from quite a sometime. He believes that if he gets a chance to lead his national side once again, he won’t turn it down.
Afridi was quoted by Indian Express saying, "Look at the way India have rebuilt their team even after the retirement of some of their top players. The talent they have is impressive and they can easily make two teams.”
Throwing some more light on what was the issue between him and PCB authorities, he said,” I am ready to go because every player has his time and has to retire. Only thing I want is that even if the selectors or board feels my time is over they should just call me and tell me what they feel. I have no problems with that. I just want to be given respect and dignity that every senior player deserves after serving the country for so many years."
"I have a target to play the 2015 World Cup but even I know that I must perform and remain fit to achieve that target," he added.
He pointed out that PCB needs to watch out whether the National Cricket Academy is being properly used to nurture the upcoming players or out-of-form players or not because currently it is not as productive as it should. "I was dropped because of poor form but did anyone tell me go to the national academy and did anyone try to work with me to find out what was wrong with me," he said.
Talking about captaincy, he was quoted by Times of India saying, "If the board offers me such a responsibility again I will definitely talk to them because I love to accept challenges and captaincy was always a big source of pride for me. I have never given anything less than 100 per cent when playing for Pakistan and after so much hard work to built the team after the spot fixing scandal, I was hurt the way I was treated. But I decided to fight on and not give up."