Shahid Afridi has widened the regional divide in Pakistan cricket by pointing to a lobby from Punjab and Lahore for conspiring against him and his captaincy. While announcing retirement from international cricket, Afridi accused a group from Punjab for turning PCB chairman Ijaz Butt against him and also said that he put self respect above everything. But he did not make it clear which players or officials were working against him. By leveling such allegations Afridi had created stir in other provinces and his word of divide has come at a time when his own career was already on the downward. Although he was the top wicket-taker of the World Cup but majority of wickets he took were of lowly-rated teams and when the real challenge was posed, he failed to impress like the one against India in the semi-final. He himself failed to deliver with the bat.
Right after the World Cup Pakistan traveled to play against a spineless West Indies and cricket pundits were of the belief that Pakistan would sweep the series but instead of letting his bat and ball do the talking he let the opposition go by. Although Pakistan won the series 3-2 but the way they lost the last two games raised many brows while Afridi came up with an excuse that coach Waqar Younis interfered in the selection matters and the team lost the match. Afridi also has a notorious past for developing intrigues in the team to gain captaincy. He orchestrated the ouster of Shoaib Malik as captain, got Mohammad Yousuf out of the team and later made Younus Khan quit captaincy.
A PCB official said he also had a hand in Shoaib Akhtar’s row with Mohammad Asif when the Rawalpindi Express hit Asif with the bat. Just a couple of years back, he chewed the ball and scratched the wicket in front of cameras. And now he has retired because he was removed from captaincy. Instead of going with grace he brought regional split in the fray. Pakistan cricket, already in doldrums, would suffer set backs with Afridi’s antics.
