Former captain Shahid Afridi has held back his decision of retiring from ODIs and instead pulled out of the Pakistan’s Ireland series later this month, it was learnt on Wednesday.
An official of the board confirmed that that Afridi has informed the board of his non-availability. Afridi’s decision came after reports that he would retire from ODIs in dejection for his ouster as captain of the team last week.
But now he has withdrawn from the upcoming one-day series citing personal reasons. “Afridi informed us that his father has been admitted to hospital for liver treatment and he wants to be with him,” PCB spokesman said.
He said that Afridi who is presently in USA in connection with medical treatment of his father, has communicated to the Board that he will not be able to join the squad in Ireland as the doctors have advised him to stay back for a few more days.
“The PCB understands his position and prays that his father recovers quickly. PCB has decided not to send any replacement for the Ireland tour and instead will be relying on the other 15 players initially named for the tour,” he said.
Afridi had been leading the Twenty20 and ODI sides since early 2010 before the PCB recently removed him as one-day captain for the forthcoming series against Ireland, appointing Test captain Misbahul Haq as his successor.
The two-match ODI series in Ireland will take place at Stormont on Saturday and next Monday.
Pakistan squad for Ireland tour: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Taufiq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Salman (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Tanvir Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Hammad Azam.
