Shahid Afridi likely to be recalled to the ODI squad – Sources

According to sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Shahid Afridi, the former Pakistan captain, is likely to be recalled to the One Day International (ODI) squad for the series against South Africa.

After the on-going three-match Test series, the Green Shirts are scheduled to play two T20 Internationals and five ODIs against the Proteas.

Afridi was not a part of Pakistan’s ODI squad in the recent tour of India as Misbah-ul-Haq and company did well to dismantle the hosts. The former captain has been miserably out of form over the last one year, which led to immense criticism from different ranks.

On a condition of anonymity, a reliable source in the PCB disclosed that along with Afridi, a number of senior players, including Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik, will be a part of the limited-overs squad to take on South Africa.

“The selectors will be selecting Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Ahmed Shahzad, Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Malik, Umar Amin and Zulfiqar Babar for the limited over series,” the source revealed.

Taking into account the national team’s struggle in the Test series, the selectors are also pondering over including some aggressive players in the side, who can counter-attack the home team in the shorter formats of the game.

“The selectors are developing a clear consensus that they need to send some dashing and aggressive players to South Africa as it has been noticed that the Test players were pretty shaken against the South Africans even psychologically,” he mentioned.

The source further added that the national selectors are not satisfied with the performance of some fast bowlers, who may get dropped from the T20s as well as the ODIs.

“There is a debate going on sending back Umar Gul, Rahat Ali and Tanvir Ahmed from South Africa after the test series,” the source believes.

Pakistan has already lost the Test series, with one match still to be played. However, most of the sporting pundits believe that the Green Shirts are going to be a more potent force in the shorter versions of the sport.

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Feb 19 2013. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.