Pakistan’s former captain Shahid Afridi on Wednesday made a formal announcement of an end to the stand-off with Pakistan Cricket Board by withdrawing a petition demanding permission to play abroad.
The move came one day after he met Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt when both sides reportedly agreed to settle the matter out of court. Earlier, Afridi had said he wanted the court to settle the issue and he won’t opt for an out of court settlement.
“We have withdrawn the petition and after this Afridi will appear before the disciplinary committee likely on Thursday,” Afridi’s lawyer Mehmood Mandviwala was reported to have said outside the court in Karachi.
“We didn’t want to go to court but were forced. Now I hope Afridi will get the NOC (no-objection certificate) and will be able to play in England and Sri Lanka,” he added.
The PCB revoked Afridi’s permission to play abroad, preventing him from appearing in the ongoing Twenty20 league in England and threatening his participation in next month’s inaugural Sri Lankan Premier League.
The stand-off began last month after Afridi accused coach Waqar Younis of undue meddling in team selection during the one-day series against the West Indies, which Pakistan won by 3-2.
The PCB removed him as one-day captain and in protest, Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket and accused PCB officials, including Butt, of mishandling his case.
The PCB said Afridi had violated the players’ code of conduct. It suspended his central contract and revoked his NOC. Afridi then went to court last week.
PCB chairman and the all-rounder agreed in that meeting for the PCB to allow Afridi to play overseas, while Afridi would drop his court case against the governing body.
“Shahid will be able to play for Hampshire next week,” Afridi’s lawyer Umran Khan was quoted by BBC Radio.
“The meeting between Shahid and Ijaz went very well and both parties have come to an amicable agreement,” he said.
“I spoke to Giles White (Hampshire manager) this morning and they’re very pleased that it’s all sorted.
“Shahid is very excited to finally be linking up with Hampshire and get back to doing what he loves, which is playing cricket,” Khan added.
The PCB had revoked Afridi’s overseas clearance when he returned from the West Indies tour last month and criticised the board for messing with the captaincy. He resigned in protest from international cricket.
Sources said that during the meeting Butt agreed to reissue an NOC to Afridi to play professional cricket abroad provided the all-rounder withdrew his court case against the Board.
Sources said the player will now appear before a PCB disciplinary committee. “The committee will recommend that the Board should reissue Afridi an NOC to play in England. It might also penalize the former captain but the punishment won’t be strict as was expected before the Afridi-Butt meeting,” said the source.
Sources close to Afridi said the cricketer will leave for London later this week to represent Hampshire in the English Twenty20 event – Friends Pro-t20.
Meanwhile, Hampshire officials have revealed that they had mulled over the idea of replacing Afridi with West Indian star Chris Gayle.
“We’ve remained hopeful all along, and we are very hopeful that an announcement can be made soon,” Rod Bransgrove, Hampshire’s chairman, told a cricket website. “But we cannot say anything more definitive beyond that at this stage.”
“We had to look at all contingency options, and Chris Gayle’s name was one of those names that came into the frame,” Bransgrove said. “But we have remained hopeful all along that Afridi would receive clearance to join us for the remainder of the Twenty20 campaign,” he added.
