Waqar welcomes Afridi’s decision

Former coach Waqar Younis has reiterated that he had no personal issues with Shahid Afridi and welcomed his decision to come out of retirement and make himself available for selection in the Pakistan team. However, the former captain said the entire Afridi episode had left a negative impact on the minds of the young players in the country.
“It was his decision to retire and take it back, it is good he is available for selection but it is also a fact that the entire episode has left a bad impression particularly on the young players,” Waqar was quoted as saying. Waqar insisted that he had no issues with Afridi and had worked well with him for over a year. Afridi has time and again blamed Waqar for interfering in his work on the tour of the West Indies something that eventually led him to retire in protest.
Afridi announced on Tuesday that he was available to play for Pakistan again under a new board chairman and changed team and his decision led to mixed reactions from the Pakistan cricket community.
The former captains while welcoming Afridi’s decision to his “conditional” retirement said that the all-rounder and the former management should not have washed their dirty linen in public.
“The team needed Afridi and his decision is appreciable, however, the bitter dispute between Afridi and board officials should not have been erupted in the first place,” Waqar said. “Revealing the matter to the media was inappropriate and players as well as board officials should refrain from such practices in future,” he added.
Former captain Wasim Akram also welcomed Afridi’s decision but advised him to just focus on cricket and not on other things.
“He still can serve Pakistan cricket for another two to three years and his availability is good. It was his own personal decision to retire and now retract it but his availability is good for Pakistan team,” Wasim said.
Former captain Rashid Latif said that it was time the board didn’t get into disputes with senior players and said he wanted to see Afridi back in the national one-day side as soon as possible.