Cricket News Australia can sort out Afridi in Tests - Ponting

Ricky Ponting is confident Australia can get the better of Shahid Afridi, the new Pakistan captain, during the two Tests in England in July. Afridi has not played a Test since 2006 and in 44 games against Australia across all formats, he has only ever scored one half-century.

Afridi will be the third man to captain Pakistan in Tests since the start of 2009 and Ponting is unconvinced that he is one of Pakistan`s best 11 Test players. Ponting said he was confident Australia`s pace attack would be able to counter Afridi`s attacking style in the five-day game.

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After suggesting that the Pakistan cricketers boycott this year`s Champions League Twenty20 and the 2011 edition of the IPL, the country`s sports minister Ijaz Jhakrani has asked the Indian government to start an inquiry into why not a single Pakistan player was bid for in the IPL auction on January 19.

"We want the government of India to intervene in this issue and let us know who was responsible in keeping Pakistan cricketers away from the IPL," Jhakrani told AP. "From day one our stance is that the IPL decision was an influenced one."

The eight IPL franchises did not consider buying anyone from Pakistan because they were uncertain of their availability, despite all 11 players obtaining the necessary clearances from their government and the Pakistan Cricket Board. India`s home minister P Chidambaram sympathised with the players, saying their non-selection was a disservice to cricket. Shah Rukh Khan, the co-owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders, said their exclusion was humiliating.

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Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf has shouldered the blame for Pakistan`s shock 36-run defeat against Australia in Sydney, and has said his dismissal was the turning point of Pakistan`s chase on the fourth afternoon.

After a disappointing morning session for the visitors, Australia set the visitors 176 to win their first Test in 15 years against them. Pakistan began the chase well, but lost wickets in clusters, a pattern similar to their failed, low-total chases in Sri Lanka and New Zealand last year. Salman Butt and Faisal Iqbal fell in the same over and just after tea Yousuf and Misbah-ul-Haq fell in the space of three balls to Nathan Hauritz.

It took a special return catch from Hauritz to dismiss him, but Yousuf called it a "pathetic" stroke. "My shot this afternoon was pathetic and it turned the game," he said. "Otherwise we would have won, not easily, but won. Yeah I blame myself."