Islamabad, Nov. 17 (TNS): Former Pakistan T20I captain Shahid Afridi believes his statement about ‘lack of talent’ in the country, which he gave in July 2016, was misinterpreted, a sports website reported on Friday.
Afridi, who represented Pakistan in 398 ODIs and 98 T20Is maintaining a strike rate of well above 100, said his statement was supposed to highlight the lack of facilities to garner young talent.
“What I meant to say was that if you were to go back in time a few years ago, it was extremely difficult to keep your place in the side due to the pressure of fresh talent wanting to take your place,” Afridi told PakPassion.
“Nowadays, this pressure has been reduced since we can barely see two to three players coming through the ranks to challenge the players in the national team.”
The 37-year-old then explained the reason behind it. “The reason is that we simply do not have facilities to train and develop younger players in special academies and under the supervision of specialised coaches,” he said.
“We are no longer in the old days where young players could be developed without needing such facilities. The demands of the modern-day game have changed dramatically.”
