Afridi plays down World Cup dream despite crushing win
PAKISTAN captain Shahid Afridi believes it’s still premature to talk of his side winning the World Cup despite an emphatic victory over West Indies in yesterday’s quarter-final.
Afridi led the way with the ball again taking another four wickets in a crushing 10-wicket win, Pakistan’s third such victory of the tournament, as the Windies were dismissed for just 111.
Pakistan reached their modest target in less than an hour-and-a-half without loss but Afridi, the leading wicket taker in the tournament by a distance, was keen to play down expectations.
“I’m very happy because before this competition I told my friends and the nation that with this team I wanted to play in the semi-finals,” he said. “There will now be more expectations to go on.
“But I am just thinking game by game. The only thing we can do is give 110 per cent. Every team from now will come harder and harder.
“We will just keep making plans for each team and try and stick to those.”
Pakistan will face the winners of today’s last eight match between co-hosts India and defending champions Australia, while West Indies head home after the tamest of exits.
“We definitely did not get enough runs,” said Windies captain Darren Sammy. “They bowled well at us and we didn’t counteract, hence we were bowled out cheaply.