'Dropped' Afridi hoping to be recalled back to Pak squad for West Indies tour

Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has said that he hoped for a recall back to the national squad after being dropped for last month's ICC Champions Trophy.

Although the veteran of 348 one-day internationals had paid the price for a below-par performance on the tour of South Africa, where he remained wicketless in all five ODIs and scored only one half century, his hopes for the upcoming tour of the West Indies were raised by Pakistan's humiliating three successive defeats in the Champions Trophy, Sport24 reports.

Stating that he believes that he still has a lot to offer to his country and should be allowed to play himself back into form, Afridi, who has scored 7,201 runs and taken 348 wickets in ODIs, said that he thinks that he is better than many other Pakistani players, adding that it is necessary to keep a match-winning player with the team even if he is not performing.

According to Afridi, a player cannot be expected to perform if he is dropped from the team.

Afridi, who has been practicing at the National Cricket Academy for the last three weeks with former international Mansoor Rana, further said that he is working hard and wants to play both one-day internationals and Twenty20s, adding that he has tried to bat for longer periods in the nets and has worked on a number of things with Rana.