KARACHI (JAN 09, 2017) Former skipper and all-rounder Shahid Afridi has said that the veteran cricketers should be part of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and they should be given big roles in the board.

“Our cricket board should provide the chance to good cricketers who have been retired from international cricket,” Afridi, fondly known as Lala by his fans, said.

The 36-year-old said that board was not focusing on domestic cricket and it was waiting for international teams to visit Pakistan.

“Our board only looks at international cricket, without focusing on the domestic system which means we don’t have any players at the local level,” he said.

Commenting on his performance when he was T20I captain, the Pakistani all-rounder said, “I consider myself to be the best T20 player because there is no one else – that is why we need to have a pool of talent from where players can be picked for the game.”

“Sycophants are very dangerous for anyone”, Afridi said, “We need to rid ourselves of them to improve ourselves.”

“We don’t have any cricket academies, not even in Karachi where players can play.” he said.

When asked about international teams visiting Pakistan to play cricket, Lala said, “We need strong representatives to go to the International Cricket Council to convince them that more international teams should come to Pakistan to play. Until we don’t have this, Pakistan may not have any team coming here.”