Published>Thu, May 20 10 01:48 PM
Karachi, May 20 (ANI): Flamboyant Pakistan T20 skipper Shahid Afridi believes that his team suffers from a 'mental hang up' when it comes to competing with the World Champions Australia, and he wants to help players break that 'jinx' concerning the Kangaroos.
In the recent years, Pakistan have had a nightmarish record against Australia, with the latest being the January-February tour where Pakistan failed to register even a single win against the hosts.
It came close to defeating Australia in the semifinal of the just concluded ICC T20 World Championship in the West Indies, but faltered at the last moment.
Afridi said the loss almost shattered his heart, but he pointed towards the positive aspect of the loss that at least Pakistan played some tough and competitive cricket.
"I would have been left completely shattered but what gave me hope was the fact that we played aggressive cricket and a victory against Australia was within our reach," The News quoted Afridi, as saying.
"It would have been great had we go on to win that match but once again the Australians proved that they are still the best in the world," he added.
The hard hitting all-rounder pointed out that defeating Australia has never been easy, but the teams competing against the world champions would have to match the aggression of the Kangaroos to stand any chance.
"I must make it clear that beating Australia will never be easy. But I'm also confident that we can do it. What we need is to overcome our mental hang up and just play brave cricket. The thing is that the Aussies are mentally very tough and the only way to beat them is by going out there and giving it our best shot. You have to be really aggressive against that team because there is no other way to tackle them," Afridi said.
Afridi said he is eagerly waiting for the two T20 encounters against Australia during the upcoming series in England, as the best chance of ending the team's poor run against Australia is to defeat them in the game in which they are considered to be the best.
"It would take a gigantic effort to beat Australia in the Test series but Twenty20 cricket is a different story. We have a very good team for the shortest format and can beat any opposition on our day," he said. (ANI)
Source: Web Search
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