Retired from international cricket, Shahid Afridi will be seen in action in Pakistan’s National Twenty20 Championships leading his home team Karachi Dolphins next month.
In what will be seen as a surprising choice, the Karachi Dolphins and Karachi Zebra squads, to be led by out-of-favour spinner Danish Kaneria, were announced by a selection committee that included national chief selector Mohsin Khan as a representative of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
While Kaneria is not being cleared by the PCB integrity committee which insists he must prove he has been cleared by the Essex police in the spot-fixing investigations last year in England, Afridi has clashed with the establishment since being removed as captain of the national one-day team in late May.
The board’s decision to remove Afridi as captain led to his retirement from international cricket in protest after which he was forced to go to court against the PCB. He eventually paid a fine of Rs4.5 million to the board for
breaching the code of conduct.
Basically the big picture is that Afridi and Kaneria are out of favour with the board and yet they have been named to lead the Karachi teams which were finalized by the chief selector.
