Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi deserves to be given a farewell match by the country's cricket board after serving the nation for almost two decades, chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq has said. “In my opinion Shahid deserves to be given a farewell match so that he can announce his retirement properly and retire in a befitting manner,” Inzamam told reporters in Dubai, where the Pakistani team is training for its "home" series against the West Indies.
Inzamam had played a major role in convincing the Pakistan Cricket Board to allow the selectors to pick Afridi as the 16th player for the Twenty20 series against the West Indies starting this week so that he could play a match and then announce his retirement. However, the plan was eventually dropped by the board. Afridi is currently working as an expert for a sports channel during the series.
What exactly transpired?
PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and Inzamam had both given their approval for Afridi to be picked for the series against the West Indies, but Najam Sethi, who heads the board's executive committee, objected to the proposal, an official told PTI.
“Sethi made the point that the board would be setting a wrong example by including Afridi as [the] 16th player just to give him a chance to play his farewell international match and it was also not befitting for such a senior player,” the official said.
“Sethi’s argument is logical and he made it clear that he would speak to Afridi himself and settle the matter. Sethi will now meet Afridi in last week of September and offer him the chance to accept a proper farewell event and announce his retirement. Afridi might have played his final match for Pakistan if the plan given by Sethi is followed to the letter,” he added.
The 36-year-old Afridi, who has played in 398 One-Day Internationals and 98 T20 internationals, and also captained Pakistan in all three formats, stepped down as skipper after a poor show in the World T20 in India this April.
