Afridi hails aggressiveness by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:	Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, ST Jayasuriya
Event:	Pakistan in Sri Lanka 2009

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DateLine: 13th August 2009

 

Pakistan T20 skipper Shahid Afridi hailed his team's response to his call for aggressive cricket as Pakistan finished their Lanka tour with a victory.

 

Afridi was himself one of major protagonists of the success with a mature knock of 50 off just 37 deliveries.

 

Opener Imran Nazir made a brilliant 40 at the start and the Afridi and Umar Akmal built on that knock putting on 66 for the fourth wicket, helping the Twenty20 world champions reach 172 for five batting first.

 

Sri Lanka then began their chase well with Sanath Jayasuriya (23) and Mahela Udawatte (11) contributing 39 for the opening wicket, but the two were dismissed within the space of three deliveries to leave Sri Lanka at a precarious stage.

 

Then the home side lost wickets regularly and were bowled out for 120 runs in 18.1 overs handing over Afridi and his team a 52-run victory.

 

"At the start I told them we are champions and we should play like champions," Afridi said.

 

"They responded very well and did a marvellous job. This victory is very important for us.

 

"We lost the Test series and the one-day series so there was nothing else to win but this game."

 

Afridi said he very much enjoyed captaining in the twenty20 format.

 

"Yes I like captaining in this format of the game," he said.

 

"It needs a positive effort and that's exactly what the guys brought to the field.

 

"In twenty20, the body language is very important.

 

"I told them at the start that I'm an aggressive captain and I wanted an aggressive approach from them as well.

 

"So the batting was good and we were sharp in the field as well and it was a good effort all around."