Karachi, Sept. 22: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi on Wednesday said that the constant flow of match-fixing allegations against his team has made his players even more determined to win the one-day series against England that is currently balanced at 2-2.
Afridi believes that the allegations are a part of a major conspiracy to finish Pakistan cricket. Afridi stressed that his team is not under any kind of pressure and will go all out for a series-winning triumph after winning the last two one-dayers at the Oval and the Lord’s. The fifth and the final one-day international is slated at the Rose Bowl Wednesday.
“What pressure?” retorted Afridi in an interview with The News after leading his team to a 38-run triumph against England at the Lord’s in the fourth ODI.
“Why should we feel under pressure? We haven’t done anything wrong. We are not guilty of any wrongdoing,” he added, referring to allegations of spot-fixing against his teammates.
In a thinly-veiled attack on the England team, Afridi said it is the guilty who always feel the pressure if allegations are levelled against them. “Only people who feel guilty take pressure”, he said. “The way so many people are joining the bashing of Pakistan cricket shows that a conspiracy is on to finish our cricket,” he said. “But we won’t allow it. As far as I and my team are concerned, we will give our best on the field and play our role in saving Pakistan cricket from all such conspiracies.”
In contrast, Afridi’s England counterpart Andrew Strauss had said that he felt pretty deflated after Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, alleged that England deliberately lost the third ODI against Pakistan at the Oval last week. “I am pretty deflated, really. It has been a long and arduous and difficult 24 hours and to lose a game of cricket at the back end of it, which we were in a good position to win, is very disappointing,” Strauss said.
Afridi, 30, said he and his team are fully ready to take on England in the series decider Wednesday at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
“The boys are feeling confident and motivated,” Afridi said. “Victories in the last two ties have really helped us. It has given the boys a lot of self-belief. They are now focused on the series decider because it’s their last test on a long and exhaustive tour,” he said.