Afridi hungry for Aussie battle

Dubai, Apr 18, 2009: Shahid Afridi, dashing Pakistan allrounder and a big crowd favourite in the UAE, cannot wait for one-day cricket series against Australia to start. "There is a tremendous hunger among the team to win and all of us are looking forward for the series to begin," he said. The first one-dayer comes off at newly-built cricket stadium in Dubai Sports City on April 22.

Afridi said with no international cricket currently in Pakistan, there is extra urge among teammates to prove. "The team also started to combine well under Younus Khan's captaincy and series could not have come at a better time. Hopefully, we will have good series."

On whether present Australian team will be any easier to take on than ones in past, Afridi sounded a word of caution. "The team is still trying to come to terms with loss of greats like Hayden, McGrath and Warne. Every team has to go through such a phase of transition.

"However, advantage with Australians is their basics are very strong with academies and other things in place to produce fresh talent. As opponents, I would say this is best time to go after them," said Afridi.

He appealed cricket-playing community of sub-continent to rally behind each other. "I would compliment Sri Lankan cricketers for taking a stance that they would still be ready to come back to Pakistan. I think Asian cricket community should help each other to keep game going in this part of the world."