Enjoyed playing in India, got more love here than Pakistan, says Shahid Afridi
Kolkata: After an intense training session at the Eden Gardens, here on Sunday, Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi held his pre-tournament media conference ahead of the ICC World T20. Afridi was all praise for Indian cricket and also said that he got a lot of love from the people of the nation, even more than he’d got in Pakistan.
“India mein humne humesha cricket enjoy kia, yahan ke logon se humein bahut pyar mila, itna pyar humein Pak mein bhi ni mila jitna yahan (I have always enjoyed playing cricket in India. The people here have always loved me a lot. I haven’t got this much love in Pakistan as compared to India),” Afridi told ANI.
There are very less nations where I've enjoyed cricket as much as I've enjoyed cricket in India-Shahid Afridi #WT20 pic.twitter.com/U3dr75miSM
— ANI (@ANI_news) March 13, 2016
“India are playing very good cricket. If you look at last game against us in Asia cup, Virat (Virat Kohli) and Yuvraj (Yuvraj Singh) did really well. There are very less nations where I've enjoyed cricket as much as I've enjoyed cricket in India-Shahid Afridi,” he said.
Afridi also added the Pakistan cricket team was physically and mentally prepared to go to India.
Shoaib Malik said, “I am very happy to be in India, I always get a lot of love. I am honoured to be in India. You could figure it out their games have improved big time. Yes, we are little bit behind if you talk about short-term versions and a little bit of ODIs as well.”
It’s a new tournament; we are here to give our best: Shoaib Malik #WT20 pic.twitter.com/vFBZeMkYxm
— ANI (@ANI_news) March 13, 2016
Shoaib thanked the Indian govt for the security cover which was ‘very good’. He added: "My wife is from India. I come to India a lot, I never had any security. This is a great opportunity for us to perform well and bring Pakistan where the rest of the world is."
Pakistan Men Team departing for ICC #WT20
Posted by Pakistan Cricket Team on Friday, March 11, 2016
After finally getting a green signal from Islamabad to take part in the ICC World T20 tournament, the Pakistan cricket team on Saturday night arrived at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (NSCB) International Airport in Kolkata.
The Shahid Afridi-led side arrived at the airport amidst heavy security.
Pakistan will play a warm-up game against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens on Monday before opening their World T20 campaign against one of the qualifiers on Wednesday.
Pakistan will to play their opening match against the first-round qualifier in Kolkata on March 16. They will then take on New Zealand (March 22) and Australia (March 25) in their remaining Group B matches -- both in Mohali.
