Pakistan

Afridi likely to miss Ireland tour

Sources say Afridi wants to spend more time with his ailing father.

Fawad Hussain May 24, 2011

Pakistan’s Former Captain Shahid Afridi decided to miss the upcoming Ireland tour scheduled at the end of this month.

The sources said that Afridi, who was removed from captaincy last week, wants to spend more time with his ailing father, who is receiving treatment in the United States, although his stance is not confirmed yet.

Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) spokesman Nadeem Sarwar said that PCB has not received any request from Afridi regarding his withdrawal.

Pakistan team will be travelling to face Ireland in two ODIs to be played on May 28 and 30.

COMMENTS (20)

Khalid Javed | 13 years ago | Reply Rise of mediocre stuff like Afridi or Misbah to Pakistan Team’s Captaincy level reflects famine of leadership on all levels in Pakistan. Afridi’s pulling himself out of the squad won’t make much difference, but we will likely have to bear the laid-back, lukewarm captaincy of Misbah in One-dayers also. But all the same - from One Mediocre to another Mediocre.

Arshad Latif | 13 years ago | Reply shahid is a good all rounder and remained a good player with pakistan team and played so histroic innings for the team which will be remembered till long. the tregdy of this great all rounder is not beliving in the test cricket. in my opinion the person who does not like to play Test Cricket may not fall under the definition of a Cricketer.

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Adnan | 13 years ago | Reply @Arsal: No they havent. They have thrown in baseless arguments and you wont comment cause you have no point. Just one of dozen illiterate critics who dont know a thing about what theyre talking about and just have to comment. @AJ: Agreed! People like arsal and his peers who tried to explain his point dont understand how much the man has given to the game. He is going through a tought time and we need to support him and not criticise him

Allah khair karay | 13 years ago | Reply lyk my n1ck says ALLAH KHA1R KARAY pak1stan1 cr1cket ka!

Muhammed Salman | 13 years ago | Reply Totally Agree with A.J.

sajid | 13 years ago | Reply no metr what we love u afridi .... u are the liven legnd ....love ya....

Arsal | 13 years ago | Reply @Adnan I guess I don't need to reply as Junaid and Shahid have made clear the point I was referring to...

Yasir Soleja | 13 years ago | Reply @Junaid: The strike rate is. I know he isn't a great captain, but you gotta admit he captained the side in tough times and managed to fight England and South Africa losing to them 2-3 in the ODIs then winning two ODI series (against the Windies and the Kiwis).. i know NZ and WI are weaker oppositions but hey, the NZ series was our first series win in around 2 and a half years.. then taking the team to the Semi Finals is def something considering our last two World Cup campaigns where we couldn't go through the first round even though in both cases we had much stronger and settled teams... plus the kinda respect he has in the team the way he treats the boys like brothers.. how can you not see his aura... how can you NOT love Lala? and how can you guys defend Ijaz Butt's madness? The guy is frickin 73 years old he should have retired 13 years ago the guy thinks from his stomach... its just that he has a major ego problem and he cannot stand anything said against him or the management I know Lala shouldn't have been that public but really the problem is Butt and NOT Lala.

A.J. - Shahid's Angel | 13 years ago | Reply After reading all the above comments, I can't believe no one has expressed any bit of sympathy or concern over Shahid Afridi's father. For God's sake, think about Shahid and his father and put the politics of cricket towards the back of your mind for now. Shahid has already given his blood, sweat, and tears, serving his nation for 15 years--only to be disrespected time and time again! Since his father's health is not in the best condition, I can only imagine the pain/nervousness disturbing emotions Shahid must be going through. It is never easy seeing someone you love suffer with illness. I pray to Almighty Allah to give Shahid's father strength to conquer his illness. May Allah grant Shahid peace of mind & comfort that his father will get well soon and his father will continue to enjoy his position as head of the Afridi family :) Ameen

Dem Managment | 13 years ago | Reply that is so heart breaking news we want him to play

Adnan | 13 years ago | Reply And Junaid, nothing special about the fastest century, the third fastest century, five 5 wicket hauls,turning numerous games on their head? Gosh what do you want from the man? Just quit watching cricket dude if you dont find this special. Let those people enjoy cricket who roar in the stadiums when Afridi comes to bat as they understand the "special" thing in there :)

Adnan | 13 years ago | Reply Oh and Shahid, his batting average is 23+ in odis and was 36+ in tests. Get your facts right :)

Adnan | 13 years ago | Reply @Junaid: If youre good enough you might have but i doubt you couldve hit the fastest century in only your first international innings and years later lead the team to a world cup victory by two really good performances in the semi final and final. Also, may i remind you this years world cup campaign was heavily supported by Afridi's bowling else we were on the verge on loss against Canada if it wasnt for his excellent bowling performance.His batting may be careless but he is an extraordinary performer, you cant deny that! @Shahid: An average player wont bowl you to the semi final of a world cup, nor would he have above 300 wickets. Who says Afridi is a batting allrounder? when he first came in the international scene, he was a bowler. That first innings changed everything and ever since theres the perception that Afridi is a batting allrounder. And the hardworker he is, he has tried hard-reference to back to back centuries last year only. But the moral of the story is that he is still a bowling allrounder whos bowling is wayy better than plain bowlers and who could bat like an average player too. People DO NOT crticize him all the time. He is a superb performer and has his shortcomings like every other person in the world!!

Junaid | 13 years ago | Reply @Adnan: Even i would have made this many runs if i would have played as many matches as Afridi played! there is nothing special about it! :D

Hassan | 13 years ago | Reply Oh dear love Afridi as i do, Seems like a bit of throwing of toys out of pram !

Shahid | 13 years ago | Reply An average player in a team of poor players. 6,000 runs...Just check out his batting average, its less then 20 !! @Adnan:

Adnan | 13 years ago | Reply @Arsal? Hes not a good player? over 6000 runs, over 300 wickets, numerous matching winning performance and numerous records. I doubt you know anything about cricket :)

AHZ | 13 years ago | Reply Face saving decision... but hope he will not influence players from sitting outside to loose match to gain back his captaincy. You can expect anything from these all players.

Fahad Raza | 13 years ago | Reply O come on Man No Way..!! We NEED YOU MAN

Arsal | 13 years ago | Reply Afridi is certainly not a good player........specially not a batsman eventhough he is regarded as an allrounder depite being a stupid man with bat......but the way he has been removed and the man he has been replaced with is very bad for Pakistan cricket. Misbah is not the future of Pakistan cricket he is already past......

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