Pakistan Cricket – The return of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 – Opinion
On Tuesday, October 18, 2011 Pakistan’s former one-day skipper Shahid Afridi announced his return in international cricket after retracting his retirement from international cricket.
The 31-year-old all-rounder, had bid farewell to playing cricket for Pakistan after developing differences with the team management during Pakistan’s tour of West Indies earlier in 2011 which lead to a standoff with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management that sided with the team management and ultimately relieved Afridi from his duties as the captain of the national team.
Afridi, who had lead the squad to an emphatic International Cricket Council (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in the semi-final of the mega event felt humiliated after being stripped from his captaincy and chose never to play for Pakistan for as long as PCB chairman Ijaz Butt was calling the shots.
For an all-rounder who had been playing international cricket for more than a decade, this was obviously an insulting way to go as he deserved a better sending off, especially after having lead a written-off national team right through to the knockout stage of cricket’s biggest event.
The obvious cause of Afridi’s dramatic exit was his serious problems with head coach http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760, where Afridi guided the national team to a 3-2 win.
Now, the flamboyant all-rounder has made himself available for national duty once again after the departure of Waqar Younis and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128.
While Waqar resigned due to personal reasons regarding his health, Butt ended his three-year term and was replaced by Zaka http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashraf-c46397, meaning that Afridi now has no excuse for ditching national duty.
However, according to many the Afridi saga has had an adverse effect on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 cricket and this is something which needs to be avoided in future.
According to former cricketers, the board and the all-rounder should have resolved all outstanding issues without discussing the matter in media.
However, what has been done is done, and now PCB and Afridi should look towards a better future instead of lingering in the past.
Meanwhile, it would be interesting to see how the new PCB administration plans to recall Afridi, technically, he is the most senior player in the Pakistan unit and has certainly proved his mettle as a captain as well and naming him in the squad without the captain’s cap might not be a good idea.
On the other hand, his replacement http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 has also impressed critics by leading Pakistan to victories and so far Pakistan has not faced a big defeat under him.
The dilemma for PCB would be to whether replace a captain who has not disappointed anyone or recall a hot-headed Afridi as a player in the national team.
For now, the PCB would probably reinstate Afridi as a player and let Misbah lead the team the way he is.
Pakistan are scheduled to play a five-match one-day series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 in a four-match one-day series in February, 2012.
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