ISLAMABAD: The matter of Shahid Afridi’s retirement from T20 Internationals took a new turn on Thursday 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 Twenty20 after losing 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 World T20, 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 the 2015 50-over World Cup, says he deserves 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 had talked to PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan about the proposed farewell match. Afridi with a vast experience of 398 ODIs and 98 T20 Internationals under his belt insisted he had done a lot for Pakistan cricket and (therefore) deserved a chance to bid farewell to his fans in a befitting manner.
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 finalising 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 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.