Former captain Shahid Afridi talked about the approach of Pakistan's cricket team and stated that the change in the Green Shirts' mindset of playing ODIs came during the time Misbah-ul-Haq was the captain.
Afridi, who captained Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup, believed that after 2011 or 2012, the change in Pakistan's cricket came and he personally felt it as he was part of that team.
"It happened after 2011 or 2012, I personally felt [the change] as I was part of that team. Look, I am going to be honest, I rate Misbah-ul-Haq very highly as a Test cricketer and captain, he has given some of the most brilliant performances, but I think in one-day cricket, he could've changed his approach for the better because cricket got faster by then. If he had changed the players' mindset, it could've been better," Afridi said while talking on a local sports show.
"But everyone has their own approach, I'm aggressive, and Misbah is defensive. I think during that time, we should've started it [the change] from domestic cricket so that whenever a player comes to the national team from grassroots, he would've had a different mindset."
Afridi then stated that cricket changed a lot in the last 10 years and now you cannot afford to play dot balls with the mindset of covering them in the later part of the game.
"Your intent should be positive means there should not be too many dot balls. Cricket changed a lot in the last 10 years, now you cannot think that I'll cover later [after playing dot balls] because you can't, you'll continue that momentum.
"When you play too many dot balls, pressure builds. And when a new batter comes to play, he's forced to play dot balls as well. Your intent should be positive, which means if you get a ball to play a shot, you'll play a shot even if it is the first ball of your innings."
It must be noted that the Pakistan cricket team have been criticised by the cricket fraternity for playing slow cricket on the batting wickets of India during the ICC World Cup 2023.
- Shahid Afridi