Afridi to hold charity dinners in UK for flood victims

Sat, Aug 28 10 09:37 PM

Karachi, Aug 28 (PTI) Pakistan ODI captain Shahid Afridi will hold two charity dinners in England this weekend to raise funds for the millions of people displaced and left homeless by the devastating floods in his country. The flamboyant all-rounder said from London that he hoped to raise considerable amount of donation in cash and kind from the charity dinners and had the full support of the national team behind him. "Players in the team are well aware of the devastation caused by these floods and the fact that how much need there is for us cricketers to also contribute towards rehabilitation of these homeless people," Afridi said. The all-rounder has already visited some flood-hit areas before leaving for England where he will captain the national team in two Twenty20 matches and five ODIs against the hosts next month. Afridi said he had received very good response from all sections of society in his appeal for donation in Pakistan and he personally distributed goods and cash to the flood victims. "We distributed goods worth Rs 2 million in Nowshera," he said. Afridi said that it was good to see the Pakistan cricket community also get on one platform to raise the funds for the flood victims. "If I get a chance to speak to players of other teams I will also request them to give us a helping hand because millions have been affected by the floods," he said. Afridi referring to the series itself said he saw it as a golden opportunity to start finalising the nucleus of the team for the 2011 World Cup, to be held in the sub-continent. "After this ODI series in England we will know the shortlist of players who will eventually be in contention for the World Cup. "I think, it is time for us to try our new combinations because unless we do that we can''t move forward or hope to do well in the World Cup," he said. Afridi also said though as captain the ODI series in England was a big challenge for him but it would also allow the selectors and team management to shortlist players for the World Cup. "We have some very good players of T20 and 50-over cricket and we need to finalise our World Cup squad in advance so that we can put up a good show in the mega event." He feels those days were gone when Pakistan, India or Sri Lanka could say that they had advantage of playing in the sub-continental conditions. "I think this World Cup will be a close one as now nearly every second team and players are used to the conditions in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and even Pakistan. So it is a question of doing your best on a given day," he said.

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