Shahid Afridi confident of ending Australia’s winning streak against Pakistan

Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi is confident of ending Australia’s winning streak against his squad when the two teams meet in the first match of the two T20 international in Birmingham on July 5.

Afridi said that the team would look to thrash the Kangaroos in the T20 matches to boost the confidence ahead of the tough Test series.

“I believe that the Twenty20 games will give us a perfect opportunity to end their (Australia’s) winning streak against us,” Afridi told The News from Colombo.

“It’s crucial for us to beat Australia before the start of the Test series. We haven’t beaten them in a long time but that losing streak has to end,” he added.

Pakistan didn’t won a single match during the tour DownUnder in January-February. They also lost to the Australians from a winning position during the ICC World Twenty20 semifinal at St Lucia, West Indies in May.

The fact that Australia have shown signs of vulnerability in their ongoing one-day series against England is something that has given further hope to Afridi.

“Their (Australia’s) recent results against England prove that they are pretty vulnerable. But to beat them we will have to play like England. We will have to learn and finish matches, something which we haven’t been doing in recent times,” he said.

Commenting on Pakistan’s performance in the just concluded Asia Cup, in which Pakistan finished at the third place, the flamboyant all rounder said that despite the loss against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the quadrangular tournament, there are many positives that have emerged for the team.

“We lost against Sri Lanka and India but the boys have shown improvement. Their body language is very positive. They are all fully fit and are ready for the long (England) tour. I’m confident that they will do much better there,” Afridi said.