LAHORE – The Pakistan cricket team left for the West Indies on Thursday after completing its two-day the training camp. The team would play a T-20 and a series of five one-day international matches under the captaincy of Shahid Afridi, while two test matches under the captaincy of Misbah-Ul-Haq. The team will start the tour of West Indies with a practice match. The practice match between Pakistan and West Indies will begin on April 18. The tour would formally start from April 21 with a T20 match. The team left for the series with a clean sweep in mind to erase the World Cup semi-final loss to India. .
The team left without Shahid Afridi for Dubai from where they will move to England and then to the West Indies. And Afridi later flew from Karachi and joined the team. The PCB did not give proper reason of Afridi’s separate travel and an official of the board stated that he left his passport at Karachi and another official said that he went to the port city to meet his father before departure. But Afridi’s failure to also attend the last day of the training camp in Lahore on Wednesday has also raised brows.
“Something may be wrong but no one is willing to speak about it,” a source close to the team said. The source also pointed out that normally passports of players were with the team well before they left for any tour. Meanwhile, before the team’s departure for the West Indies, manager Intikhab Alam told the media that he was hopeful of a good performance by the team. “I am hopeful the young cricketers who have been picked in the side will perform well and Inshallah help us win the series against West Indies,” said Alam. The team will play a Twenty20 International and five-match ODI series under Shahid Afridi’s captaincy, while two Test-match series under Misbah-ul-Haq.
The team has several new faces after senior like Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal were dropped and is expected to do well against relatively weak West Indies team. Alam said that it was a healthy opportunity for the young players to make their mark. “The wickets and the new look West Indies team would not challenge Pakistan that much. All the players need is to focus on their game and try to give their hundred percent,” he maintained. Pakistan has included Mohammad Salman to replace Kamran Akmal. Batsman Usman Salahuddin and all-rounder Hammad Azam were also called in by the board.
