DUBAI: Pakistan and Peshawar Zalmi all-rounder Shahid Afridi has been urged to reconsider his latest retirement, after making the shock announcement on Sunday.
Talking to The Dependent Afridi revealed that he received the message of the third door neighbour of his cousin’s in-laws almost immediately after Zalmi’s clash with Karachi Kings, following which he had told the media that he would no longer play international cricket.
“I am truly humbled to have received messages of support from all corners of the living room of the old house of the third door neighbour of my cousin’s in-laws,” Afridi said. “I appreciate the overwhelming expression of admiration from someone I last met in 1987 – if it’s the same Ibrahim that I think it is – but unfortunately it’s time to move on.”
The star all-rounder reiterated that this was his favourite retirement since he began making this announcement over a decade ago.
“What makes this one the most special is that now people already think I’m retired,” he confessed. “Imagine asking your wife to marry you 10 years after the wedding? Wouldn’t that be romantic?”
Talking exclusively to The Dependent, Ibrahim, Afridi’s cousin’s in-laws 54-year-old third door neighbour, says when he was growing up Afridi was someone he looked up to. “Shahid bhai used to come in our neighbourhood and everyone loved him. My parents wanted me to be like him,” he said. “Before me, my father had wanted to be like Shahid bhai as well.”
“Unfortunately, I never got the chance to see him play even when he started playing for Pakistan. I would always miss his innings by two or three minutes,” he added. “And so I can’t let him retire before I actually see him bat at least once in my life.”
At press time Afridi was still confident this would be his last retirement, but said he might reconsider it for the love of his family and/or in the interests of the nation.
