Former T20 captain Shahid Afridi refuses to appear in the fitness test being held at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) from May 8 to 12.
Though all the centrally- contracted players of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are to appear in the fitness test, Afridi will not attend it as he does not have a guaranteed chance of playing for Pakistan for at least the next two years.
However, two other discarded players — Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad — are likely to appear in the fitness test as they are included in the list of central contracted players. All the three — Afridi, Akmal, and Shehzad — have been sidelined by the new selection committee, headed by former Test captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, for different reasons while announcing the probable for the camp, to be held in Abbottabad from May 13 as part of preparations for the upcoming tour of England.
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While Afridi has been ‘rested’ to accommodate youngsters, both Umar and Shehzad were axed on disciplinary grounds.
Afridi stepped down from captaincy after the World T20 but decided not to retire from T20 internationals after the World T20. Afridi, under whose captaincy Pakistan failed to perform well in the last Asia Cup and the ICC World T20, is facing an uncertain future now as chief selector Inzamam has stated “This year we have only four T20s and over the next 14 months we have to play only six T20s and I think we should give chance to new players in these six matches.”
Read more: Inzi drops Shehzad, Akmal, Afridi from tour to England