Shahid Afridi Shuns PCB’s Farewell, Thanks Najam Sethi For Multiple Offers 1

Former Pakistan skipper and all-rounder Shahid Afridi on Friday has snubbed the special invitation from executive chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Chairman of Pakistan Super League Najam Sethi, who offered a farewell to celebrated cricketer earlier this month.

The 37-year-old all-rounder has declined the offer from PCB while citing the ‘personal commitments’ through microblogging website Twitter.

In a series of tweets posted on his Twitter account, Afridi thanked Sethi for offering to give him a farewell after he announced his retirement earlier this year.

However, Afridi has further thanked Sethi for offering him the proper farewell, following his announcement of retirement.

“Thank you for the meeting and farewell offers Najam Sethi. Unfortunately due to my commitments I won’t be able to take them,” Afridi tweeted.

 

Moreover, Afridi expressed his satisfaction over Misbah-Ul-Haq and Younis Khan being given proper farewells for their services to Pakistan in the field of cricket.

“My desire was to set a new trend. I’m very happy that Misbah and Younis are getting proper farewells. I hope this trend will continue in future,” Afridi remarked.

The reports suggested in a meeting on Sunday (April 23) in Dubai, Shahid Afridi discussed farewell and possibilities of contribution to the cricket in general before making his decision when PCB was holding its meeting.

“We’re ready to honour him for whatever thing is possible in our way. We had offered him [Shahid Afridi] to play one of the matches against World XI which is scheduled in Pakistan,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan stated during the presser.

Afridi, who has served Pakistan over 20 years, played his last match in 2016, when he was the part of Twenty20 World Cup squad in India.

Soon after Afridi’s statement, Najam Sethi tweeted PCB would respect the decision of Afridi and the board is scheduled to organise a grand farewell for trios of Pakistan cricket which further include Younis Khan and current Pakistan Test skipper Misbah-Ul-Haq.

“We respect Shahid Afridi’s decision not to play Farewell match. PCB will organise grand farewell for Lala (Afridi) like Misbah and Younas [Younis Khan]. 3 Heroes!,” Sethi tweeted.

Afridi, who was the part of PSL franchise Peshawar Zalmi, the Champions of the second edition of the Twenty20 league had played 398 One-day Internationals, 98 Twenty20 Internationals and 27 Tests for Pakistan since making his debut in 1996.

The right-handed batsman amassed 8,064 runs in ODIs, 1716 runs in Tests and 1,405 runs in T20Is.

With his effective leg-spin, he has bagged 395 wickets in 50-over format followed by 97 in the 20-over game and 48 in the longer format.

Here’re the Tweets from Shahid Afridi and Najam Sethi:

Tahir Ibn Manzoor

Tahir Ibn Manzoor, who tweets @TahirIbnManzoor (https://twitter.com/TahirIbnManzoor) - works as an editor for Sportzwiki.com. He has a great affection for longform feature writing. He completed his masters...