Thursday, September 30, 2010

I''ve lost the desire to play Test cricket: Afridi

Fri, Oct 01 10 09:56 AM

Karachi, Oct 1 (PTI) Pakistan''s ODI and Twenty20 skipper Shahid Afridi says he has no intentions of going back on his "emotional" decision to retire from Test cricket as he has lost the desire to play the longer format of the game. "I have no real desire to play Test cricket and the reason I lost this desire was because I was not selected consistently for Test matches," Afridi said. "As it is I have a busy schedule and I don''t think I have the time for Test matches," he added. Afridi said before going public with his decision after the first Test against England, he had informed his successor Salman Butt and coach Waqar Younis. The flamboyant all-rounder also made it clear that he and other senior players including Muhammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Akhtar had discussed the future and were keen to put the national team on the right track in the next two or three years before retiring. "We want to retire after making a strong team and leaving behind a legacy of some good players," he said. Afridi also disclosed while he was Test captain, he had told the team management in England to instruct the players to stay away from brothers, Mazhar and Azhar Majeed, whose names cropped up in a spot-fixing scandal which led to the suspension of three Pakistani cricketers. "These brothers were agents for some of our players but what I didn''t like was them coming to the hotel rooms. I told the manager about this and he also made it clear to the players under no circumstances should their agents be in the rooms or near the dressing room," he said. "Unfortunately after I returned home I don''t know what happened but I had a fear that these two brothers would get our players into trouble. I don''t blame the team management because they can only warn or instruct the players to a certain extent. They can''t stop the players from going out with their agents for dinner or receptions." .


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