LAHORE: Shahid Afridi on Monday ended his controversial, sometimes illustrious, 21-year career after announcing his retirement from international cricket but said he wanted to play in his country’s domestic league for two more years. The flamboyant all-rounder, who played the last of his 27 Tests in 2010 and retired from one-day internationals in 2015, quit as Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain after the team’s dismal World Twenty20 campaign in India last year. “I have said goodbye to international cricket,” Afridi, who turns 37 next month, said in Sharjah after smashing a 28-ball 54 for Peshawar Zalmi against Karachi Kings in the ongoing Pakistan Super League. “I am playing for my fans and will continue to play this league for another two years but it’s goodbye from international cricket. Now my foundation is important for me. I have played with seriousness and in a professional way for my country,” he added. Known for his swashbuckling batting and tricky leg-spin, Afridi’s last match for Pakistan was the defeat by Australia in the World Twenty20 in Mohali in March 2016. Since then Afridi has been playing in T20 competitions around the world: for Hampshire in the NatWest T20 Blast, Islamabad in Pakistan’s National T20 Cup, Rangpur Riders in the BPL, and Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL.
Despite his intention to continue in the game’s shortest format, he has not been selected since that World T20 defeat. Nicknamed ‘Boom Boom’, Afridi had been a fan favourite since he burst onto the scene in 1996, striking a 37-ball one-day century against Sri Lanka in only his second match to set a world record that was unbeaten for 18 years. His blistering breakthrough century in Nairobi in 1996 was only surpassed by New Zealand’s Corey Anderson’s 36-ball hundred against West Indies at Queenstown in 2014. South African AB de Villiers then bettered the record further with a 31-ball century, also against the West Indies, at Johannesburg in 2015. Afridi became known as a leg-spin bowling all-rounder in the second half of his career and was instrumental in Pakistan’s early successes in Twenty20, including their World T20 2009 victory.
The issue of his not announcing his retirement, in fact, had become a prickly one. Last year, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan said he had reached an agreement with Afridi that he would step down after the World T20. However, before the tournament and during the inaugural PSL, Afridi revealed that he was reconsidering his retirement. So once he didn’t announce his retirement after the World T20, a new selection committee under Inzamamul Haq simply stopped picking him. For a while Afridi hinted at wanting a farewell match, or series, so that he can leave the game “on a high” and “gracefully”. That, however, didn’t pan out and it would seem now that Afridi has put the matter to rest. On form alone the decision seems to make sense. He has been a slightly less luminous figure at the PSL this season than the last – for one, he relinquished the captaincy to Darren Sammy before the season began. He has, after six matches, only one wicket this season, though his economy rate has been good. It also completes a three-phased retirement from the international arena.
Afridi’s maverick style also brought him a one-Test and two-match ODI ban after he was charged with using his foot to tamper with the pitch during a Test against England in Faisalabad in 2005. He was also banned for two Twenty20 internationals after he was shown on television biting the ball during a one-day international against Australia at Perth in 2010. Afridi finished his international career having played just 27 Test matches which yielded 1176 runs with a highest score of 156 and 48 wickets. He played 398 one-day internationals with 8064 runs, a highest score of 124 while taking 395 wickets with his leg spin. His T20 international career saw him play 98 matches with 1405 runs and 97 wickets.