Shaheen Afridi in BPL due to Tamim Iqbal

Pakistan left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi revealed that he accepted the offer to play in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) due to Tamim Iqbal with whom he shared a great camaraderie, report agencies.

"A few days ago, Tamim Bhai had personally called me and offered to play for Barishal in the BPL and I gleefully accepted the offer," Afridi said after the practice session of Fortune Barishal at the Academy ground of the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the city on Saturday.

Bangladesh star Tamim Iqbal will lead Fortune Barishal to defend the title and Afridi is considered to play as vital role. Undoubtedly the Pakistan pacer is the biggest star attraction of this BPL but he showed his down to the earth nature while interacting the media.

"For me, it was Tamim Iqbal's phone call," said Afridi, dubbed as one of the best pacers in the world at this moment.

He however expressed his excitement at playing in the BPL, saying, "When Tamim Bhai called me for this team, I was really excited and looking forward to it. I know the Bangladeshi people, they love cricket, they love the superstars and I hope I perform well here. "As far as I've watched, BPL is a very good. I hope there's a lot to learn for us as well. When we come from Pakistan, we hope we play good cricket here. I know there are lots of Pakistani cricketers here. Let's see how the cricket goes, then I can compare (with other T20 leagues)," he added. It was reported that Shaheen, who picked seven wickets for Pakistan in the preceding ODI series against South Africa, was axed from the Test squad as he failed to comply with an instruction from a selector to play a four-day game that was interpreted as disobedience. PCB then decided to exclude Shaheen from the Test squad citing workload management and later granted him NOC to take part in BPL.

On Saturday, Shaheen remained tight-lipped about the entire affair, aiming to avoid stirring further controversy. "Sorry for that, can we just question the Bangladesh league," Shaheen told reporters when his attention was drawn regarding the recent controversy. "I am fit (to play across formats) and that's why I'm here (to play BPL)," he added.

Leaving behind the Test exclusion saga, Shaheen is on the cusp of becoming the player with the most number of wickets in the opening over in T20 cricket. "Actually I'm not trying to break the records or make a record. I'm just simply trying to hit my right areas in T20 cricket," said Shaheen. "You know, T20 cricket's wicket is too good for batting and so just trying to mix up using my variation and just trying to hit my good areas.

Barishal would open the tournament at the very first day by taking on newcomer Durbar Rajshahi tomorrow (Monday).