Pakistan’s former captain and a prolific all-rounder Shahid Khan Afridi has been under the scanner for his mediocre batting form throughout last year hence was advised to take a break from game as well however, the former skipper, Rashid Latif feels that instead of taking a break the all-rounder should revisit his decision to retire from domestic competitions. “I have not seen a problem with Afridi’s fitness in the past year. His batting strike rate was also impressive but the fact of the matter is that he spent very little time at the wicket for his runs. Every batsman needs to give himself time to regain the lost touch and this is where Afridi lacked in the recent past.” said Rashid Latif in a television interview.
“Afridi scored 182 runs in 13 ODI innings he played in 2012, but faced only 179 deliveries”, Latif points out Latif further said that unlike others who faced the similar sort of situation in the past, Afridi does not play longer-versions of the domestic events. He advised the all-rounder to revisit his decision. “Younus, Misbah, Hafeez and others have been through bad patches, however they overcome the hindrance by scoring heavily in the domestic events by spending time in the middle. Afridi should do the same, I feel”, concludes Latif. Shahid Afridi, who has played 27 Test matches for Pakistan, took retirement from the longest version in July 2010. In Test matches, the all-rounder scored 1716 runs with an average of 36.51 which includes five centuries.
