Shahid Afridi's return to form has made him a popular choice for T20 cricket once again with the St Lucia team in the upcoming Caribbean Premier League (CPL) offering a late contract to flamboyant Pakistan allrounder.
Afridi confirmed from St Lucia that he had been made a offer to play in the CPL that begins from July 30th although he was not in the list of overseas signings.
"I am going through the contract and will see how it goes but I would love to play in such a big tournament because it is the first time they are having a professional T20 league with foreign participation in the West Indies," he said.
The St Lucia team offered the contract to Afridi on the recommendation of captain Darren Sammy.
Six teams are taking part in the CPL with Pakistan's T20 captain Mohammad Hafeez, opener Ahmed Shahzad and Shoaib Malik already signed up to play for different regional teams in the league.
Afridi, who made a comeback to the national team for the tour of West Indies, returned to form in the series won by Pakistan as he finished with 10 wickets and also played two good innings including a blistering 76 in the first match.
The former captain said he was happy to finally show some form for his team and if he played in the Caribbean league it would prepare him for the forthcoming tour to Zimbabwe.
"These days I have decided to focus a lot on my batting as I realise now my fans and supporters expect a lot from me when I go out to bat," he said.
"In the past few years because of team requirements I had focused a lot on improving my bowling but I am now paying a lot of attention to my batting and spending lot of time in the nets," he said.
Afridi said it felt good to be part of a winning team after Pakistan clinched the five match one-day series 3-1.
Pakistan now play two T20 internationals against the West Indies.
