Flamboyant Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi has said he is ready to retire from international T20 cricket the day he feels he is a burden on the team. Afridi, 35, announced retirement from one-day internationals after the World Cup while he had quit Test cricket in 2010.
He recently announced that he was going to continue playing T20 cricket and focus on building a strong squad for next year’s World T20 Cup in India.
The fact is that the senior players are letting down the team. We can’t expect to win much with our current poor form. I want to lead from the front, and if I feel that I’m going to be a burden, then I will quit the format well before next year’s ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup in India.
– Shahid Afridi
Pakistan suffered a 0-3 drubbing at the hands of Bangladesh in the three-ODI series and also lost the lone T20 International game against the same opponents. In fact, out of four T20 games since October, the Afridi-led Pakistan have lost three.
Afridi, who went wicketless in the lone game in Bangladesh, felt the team desperately needs a hard-hitting all-rounder. “We need a big-hitting all-rounder. We lack stroke players in the team who can play big shots at any given time. We need to sort this issue,” Afridi said.
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