The matter of Shahid Afridi’s retirement from T20Internationals took a new turn on Wednesday when the veteran player asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to give him a farewell match so that he could exit international arena in a befitting manner.
It may be recalled that Pakistan were eliminated from this year’s World T20 following their loss to India, New Zealand and Australia in the preliminary stage of the event.
Consequently, there were talks, at that time, about this being Afridi’s last T20 campaign.
However, after the loss to Australia in the WT20, Afridi said he would think about retiring and on April 3 he stepped down from national T20 captaincy but didn’t announce his retirement from the game’s shortest format.
Now. Afridi who quit ODIs last year after 2015 50 over World Cup said he deserved a farewell match, and he has asked the PCB to provide him with that so that he can bid goodbye to his fans.
“A farewell match is my right,” the all-rounder said while talking to a private news channel.
He further said that he has talked to PCB chairman Shaharyar Kahn about the proposed farewell match.
Meanwhile, PCB executive committee chairman Najam Sethi said that the Board wanted to give Afridi farewell in a graceful manner.
Talking to a private TV channel, Sethi said the Sept 26 meeting, to be held with him for finalizing the matter of farewell, was cancelled due to Afridi’s engagements.
Sethi said he was waiting for that meeting but Afridi cancelled it.
“We are still waiting for Shahid Afridi to get a date from him for the meeting,” Sethi said, adding that the PCB wanted to award him a farewell match as he deserved it.