Miffed Afridi retires, calls PCB officials disgraceful

May 31, 2011 |

Karachi

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Afridi - Pak cricket captain Shahid Afridi speaks at a press conference - AFP_2.jpg.crop_display.jpg

Angry at being removed as Pakistan's ODI captain, temperamental all-rounder Shahid Afridi has retired from international cricket, insisting he would return only if 'disgraceful' administrators of the PCB quit.

"The people have given me lot of respect and love and I don't want to waste that working with this board who don't know how to respect players," Afridi fumed.

In a scathing attack on the Pakistan Cricket Board, the 31-year-old described the current set of administrators as 'disgraceful people'.

The experienced all-rounder said he will not play international cricket till the time the present PCB under the chairmanship of Ijaz Butt is in place,.

"I want to make it clear that till this board is there, I will not play international cricket. When it goes and if people want me to play on I will consider a comeback," he said.

However, Afridi said he will continue to play in domestic matches.

"I will continue to play domestic and league cricket but not international cricket...It is not worth my while under this board which gave me no reason nor did it bother to hear me out before sacking me as captain," he said.

"I don't want to work with such disgraceful people. I don't know on what grounds they sacked me as captain. I worked hard on building up a broken team and turned it into a fighting combination. We played in the World Cup semi-final and yet they sacked me without hearing me out," he added.

The retirement follows Afridi's sacking as ODI captain despite Pakistan's 3-2 series win over the West Indies.

Though the board did not any give official reason for the removal, it was believed to be a result of growing differences that Afridi had with coach Waqar Younis, in particular over matters of selection.

Afridi also claimed that there was a group of people belonging to the Punjab province in Lahore who had always been against him.

"This group has always kept on working against me. They are the ones who keep on filling the Chairman's ears against me. Maybe they don't want me to play because I get in the way of their plans."

The all-rounder also alleged that as captain he was never consulted in selection of teams, nor was he sure about his captaincy before a series till the last moment.

"This board never gave me a feeling of assurance that I would be captain. I would not know before a series until the last few days whether I was going to be captain and I can't continue to play under these circumstances," he said.

Afridi also made it clear that he had spoken to some of his elders and seniors before taking retirement and they supported him.

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