Appoint Afridi ODI captain for Australia series: Moin

Karachi:

Flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi should lead the Pakistan team in the forthcoming five-match one-day series against Australia, feels former captain Moin Khan.

Miffed with Pakistan's shameful defeat against Australia in the Sydney Test, where the visitors failed to chase down the victory target of 176 runs and bundled out for a paltry 139 runs in their second essay, Moin said Afridi could bring about a sea change in the team's attitude and temperament, given his proven dynamics and positivity.

He demanded the Paksitan Cricket Board (PCB) to think in this direction and immediately replace Muhammad Yousuf with Afridi as the captain for the ODI series.

"It is time the responsibility of leading the one-day squad is handed to Shahid Afridi as he has proven himself to be a strong leader even in the Twenty20 internationals," Moin said.

"I think there is no harm if the board also considered Afridi as captain for the test team as he is an in-form player and excellent allrounder who can play in any form of the game. We need a positive thinking aggressive leader like him to lift Pakistan cricket," Moin said.

The former wicketkeeper-batsman blamed the defensive approach of Yousuf and the support staff as the reason behind Pakistan's shock defeat in Sydney.

Moin pointed out that Yousuf's strategy was not positive in the second Test and he allowed Aussies to get back into the game.

"He (Yousuf) sent out a clear message that he neither has a confidence in his bowlers to take wickets nor in his batsmen to chase the total," he said.

Afridi, who is Pakistan's Twenty20 captain, is presently playing for South Australia in the Big Bash T20 competition and has done well in the first two matches.

However, captain Muhammad Yousuf had ruled out any chances of Afridi being called up for the third Test in Hobart any time soon.

Yousuf told the Pakistani media in Sydney that the all-rounder will find it tough to switch to the longest format of the game after playing extensive Twenty20 cricket.

"First of all, I'm not sure whether he (Afridi) is really serious about playing Test cricket. He seems to be confused. Sometimes he says I don't want to play (Tests) and sometimes he says I want to play. I'm not too sure about him."

Yousuf said that even if Afridi was considered for the final Test, there were no guarantees whether he will be able to click in the dead rubber.

"He (Afridi) has mostly been playing Twenty20 cricket and will find it very hard to switch to the Test mode," he said.

Afridi, 29, announced last year that he would not play Test cricket till after the 2011 World Cup in a bid to completely focus on ODIs and Twenty20 cricket.