Playing behind closed doors won't affect Pakistan much: Shaheen Shah Afridi
Jun 17, 2020
Lahore [Pakistan], June 17 : Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi on Wednesday said that playing behind closed doors would not affect the side much in the series against England.
Pakistan will face England in three Tests and three T20Is. Ahead of the series, the pacer has said that the side would closely follow the series between England and West Indies as well.
England will face West Indies before the series against Pakistan. The series between England and West Indies will mark the return of international cricket.
"For us playing behind closed doors is nothing new as we have played before in the UAE. Sometimes during the matches, the crowd did not turn up in big numbers. There were some matches with lesser crowds during the last Pakistan Super League (PSL) as well," Afridi told reporters in a virtual press conference.
"The atmosphere should not affect us and we will aim to entertain people who will be watching matches live on their television," he said.
As part of new rules issued by the International Cricket Council (ICC), saliva cannot be used by players to shine the ball and non-neutral umpires can be used for an international cricket match.
Pakistan squad for England tour: Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.
Afridi has so far played eight Tests, 19 ODIs and 12 T20Is for Pakistan and has managed to take 86 wickets across all formats.
