Afridi urges team to continue winning trend

Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has called upon his players to continue with the winning momentum ahead of the 2 test series against Australia starting on July 13. Following their 2-0 clean sweep of the T20s against Australia, Pakistan have got off to a great start on this tour. This recent win has boosted Pakistan after they were whitewashed by Australia in all formats of the game earlier this year and suffered heart-breaking losses in the World T20 against the same nation. 

"We have regained our winning habit we have to work harder to maintain it," Afridi told a Pakistani sports channel. "I knew that we could turn the corner because we have been performing well since the Twenty20 World Cup. Our only problem was we could not handle the pressure in close games."

Pakistan have been great in the shortest format of the game, becoming World Champions in the 2009 T20 WC held in England. However, their form in Tests hasn't been up to the mark, having been beaten 3-0 by Australia away, and drawing a three-Test series in New Zealand 1-1 before that. Afridi is determined to reverse that trend in the longer format.

He was aware that both T20 and tests are different. He was quick to point that a win is a win in any format and this will be good for the confidence of the team ahead of this test series.

Coach Waqar Younis agreed that the team can take a lot of confidence into the Test series. "I think these two wins are really going to help us to get into the momentum," Waqar said. "Test matches are a different ball game fair enough, but a team enters into any game with confidence if they have some wins under their belt."

With senior players Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan missing the tour despite their bans being lifted by the PCB, Afridi was confident that his younger players will fill the gap. Yousuf hasn't yet come out of retirement while Younis was left out due to disciplinary reasons.

"We will miss the experience of Younis Khan and Yousuf. I wanted them in the team for this tour and I tried my best to see they were in the team but it was unfortunate that it did not happen," Afridi said. "We have to manage with the available resources so I am focusing completely on the team I have. The main focus is on the new players because they are the ones who will fight for Pakistan in the Test matches and I am sure that they will deliver for the team."
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