Pakistan's cricket coach Waqar Younis defended under-fire captain Shahid Afridi for his 'love for India' statement, saying that there was nothing controversial in it and the all-rounder was merely expressing his emotions.
"For me, I did not find anything controversial in it. This is something he felt. It's his emotions. I believe we should leave it at that rather than creating a controversy out of nothing. We're here to play cricket, to beat teams. To focus on cricket is a better idea," Younis said.
"My message to the boys is just leave everything behind. This is about playing some quality cricket, playing for the nation. They all are capable."
Having landed in India following a delay because of their government's security apprehensions, Afridi's comment that cricketers from his country are loved here more than back home kicked up a storm.
Former captain Javed Miandad led the criticism saying that the Pakistani skipper should be ashamed of himself.
"Yes, we had a bit of drama and a bit of controversy yesterday also. We're a kind of team once we get the momentum going, we can surprise people. I hope it does not affect the team's performance," he said.
Seen as his last appearance in the sixth edition of the World Twenty20, Afridi has been struggling for form but the head coach said he's one good innings away.
"It takes less than a minute to lose form and to get it back as well. T20 cricket is like that, we're hoping that he's one innings away from getting back his old form. Hope this is the story in Afridi's case."
Under-fire Afridi skips practice
A day after creating a furore back home with his 'love for India' statement, Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi skipped the team's training session, on Tuesday, citing 'fever', ahead of their ICC World Twenty20 opener against Bangladesh.
Pakistan's coach Waqar Younis however said it's nothing to do with the controversy and added: "It's not like that. He was not feeling well in the morning... So it's better to take rest. It's hot and humid out there."
Later, giving an update on Afridi, Pakistani team manager Intikhab Alam said he was running fever.
"He over trained himself yesterday. He's had slight fever in the morning and we opted to give him rest," Alam said as the rest of the Pakistani camp trained for more than two hours in the morning.
The highlight of the training session was pacer Mohammad Sami, who did rounds of the stadium and seemed to have recovered from his toe injury.
Sami, who was hit on his toes by a local bowler during their practice on Sunday, missed their warm-up match against Sri Lanka.
