Shahid Afridi steps down as Pakistan captain
Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi today announced he will be relinquishing the captaincy of the side after back-to-back horror shows in the World T20 and the Asia Cup. The 36-year old, however, said he would continue playing cricket for the country and doesn’t plan to retire from the game anytime soon.
Earlier, the explosive batsman had hinted he would retire from the game after the World T20, but Afridi has now said that he is not hanging up his boots right now and will continue playing cricket for Pakistan. Afridi confirmed the news in a letter posted on his social media account.
"Today I wish to inform my fans in Pakistan and all over the world that I am relinquishing the captaincy of the T20 Pakistan team of my own volition," the statement said. "For
The all-rounder scored 90 runs in 4 matches and picked up 4 wickets in the World T20, but his captaincy was criticised and attacked from different corners after the team managed only one win in the group stages. Afridi had retired from fifty over cricket after last year's World Cup.
Shahid Afridi was previously labelled as a “completely clueless captain” by Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan team manager, in a report submitted to the Pakistan Cricket Board following the dismal outing at the World Cup. There were also reports of a dressing-room fallout with not many favouring Afridi.
Earlier during the World T20, Afridi also received a lot of flak for his comments saying that he received more love in India than he did back in his homeland. That was followed by the controversial remark claiming that people from Kashmir were at the stadium to support Pakistan, and it did not go down well with the BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur.
Shahryar Khan, the PCB chief had come out and said that the 36-year old will be removed from captaincy irrespective of the World T20 performances, midway through the cup, but it appears Afridi has beaten him to it. Afridi had succeeded Mohammad Hafeez as T20 captain in September 2014. It will be interesting to see, who becomes the next Pakistan captain, with nobody having the experience of Shahid Afridi.
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