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Afridi quits Pakistan

Image: Afridi: Believes he has been disrespected by the PCB

Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket.

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Former skipper retires from international cricket and blasts PCB

Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. The 31-year-old, who retired from Test cricket in 2010, captained his country to the World Cup semi-finals earlier this year. However, he was dropped for the one-day series with Ireland after having his captaincy removed after publicly criticising team coach Waqar Younis following the recent tour of the West Indies. Afridi has reacted by quitting the international arena altogether and again took the opportunity to lash out at the Pakistan Cricket Board. "I have decided to retire from international cricket because I am not in a mental frame of mind to continue playing under this board," he told Geo TV. He added to AFP: "I am dejected and hurt and whatever I said about the coach it was in the best interest of the team."

Respect

Afridi had hit out at Waqar after returning from the Caribbean, where his side won the one-day series 3-2, but said the differences between him and the coach were "not at a stage where they cannot be resolved". The PCB responded by giving Afridi a show cause notice and also removed him from the captain's role for the trip to Ireland. "I can't work with such people. To me self-respect is more important than anything else and this board has no respect for me," Afridi said. He added: "There was no respect shown to me although I picked up a ragged and scandal-hit team and built it up into a fighting unit. "We reached the 50-over World Cup semi-finals and the reward they gave me was the sack. They sacked me without telling me. No one bothered to even speak to me. "There is a particular lobby of people who don't want me in the team perhaps because I don't fit into their scheme of things. They have poisoned the chairman (Ijaz Butt) against me." Afridi scored 6,695 runs in 325 one-dayers as well as taking 315 wickets as a leg-spinner. He also played in 43 Twenty20 internationals, scoring 683 runs and taking 53 wickets.

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