India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Pakistan Twenty20 and ODI captain Shahid Afridi insists that leading his side in the upcoming five-match ODI series against England would be the biggest challenge of his career. The Pakistan team is currently embroiled in a 'spot-fixing' scandal, following which the International Cricket Council (ICC) has suspended Test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif. "For me personally it is a big challenge to lead the team in the existing conditions, but I have tried my best to relax the players and insist they just concentrate on cricket itself," The Daily Times quoted Afridi, as saying. He further said that the players were just focused on the cricket, and making an effort to avoid discussing the issue. "It has not been easy for the players, but I think the team management took the right decision to release these players even before they were suspended," Afridi said. "The players are avoiding talking about it because they know the best thing they can do right now is to focus on the coming matches and try to do well in them," he added. The five-match ODI will be played from September 10-22.

Captaincy amidst spot-fixing scandal a 'big challenge': Afridi