Pakistan T20 skipper Shahid Afridi is not keen on retiring from the Twenty20 format of the game soon as he feels there are not a lot of promising players coming up at present for the Pakistan cricket team.
Afridi, who will turn 36 on March 1, had revealed after the ICC Cricket World Cup last year that he will call it quits from the Twenty20 format of the sport after the end of the ICC World T20 in 2016. However, the swashbuckling all-rounder has now revealed that he might reconsider his decision.
"I am saying there is a lot of pressure on me that I shouldn't retire from T20," Afridi, who has already retired from Test Cricket and ODIs, was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo. "That I can play on, and as such there is no real talent coming through in Pakistan whose place I am taking."
Afridi, who made his T20I debut for Pakistan in 2006, recently praised the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and mentioned that the competition should be held regularly to bring out new cricket talents from the country.
Ahead of Pakistan's Asia Cup T20 2016 opener against India on Feb. 27 at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka, Afridi, who is referred to as one of the best T20 all-rounders, added that he is just staying focused on the two big T20 competitions and will officially give an update on his retirement at the end of the ICC World T20.
"For a while now there is a lot of pressure from my family, a lot of pressure from my friends, including my elders, who say there is no need for me to retire from Twenty20," Afridi continued. "That is a huge pressure. For now, in truth, I am focusing only on the World Cup. That is a huge challenge for me."
"First I want to see where Pakistan stand in the World Cup. Whether I am capable of taking the team forward on the back of my performances. I want to check where I am standing myself," he added.
"As far as playing goes my fitness is zabardast (awesome). Energy is also there. I can play cricket. But I would be able to tell things clearly after the World Twenty20."
Afridi will be participating in the ICC World T20 for the sixth time in his career next month.
