Pakistan’s premium bowler, Shaheen Shah Afridi, has asked PCB to pull him out of the Test Series against South Africa as he wanted to focus on the Champions Trophy.
In other news, the player is expected to play in the Bangladesh Premier League (BBL), set to join the reigning champion Fortune Barishal.
This has raised rumors that the pacer is considering taking retirement from Test Cricket and focus on playing Leagues.
PCT’s coach, Mickey Arthur, has criticized PCB for not including him in the test team against South
Africa but PCB has issued a statement citing that this is a strategic move to manage the workload of Shaheen Afrid.
The current test series against South Africa is not that important for Pakistan as Pakistan is not going to qualify for the world test championship even if they win the series.
However, cricket experts are saying that pacers try to prolong their career by retiring early in test cricket.
Shaheen Afridi is 24 years of age having 116 wickets in tests, 119 wickets in ODI and 100 wickets in T20 and is currently at 19th spot in ICC test bowler ranking with 667 points and at 3rd point in ODI ranking with 662 points.
He might be considering retirement in order to prolong his career and to avoid injuries.
Before Shaheen, Pakistan’s bowler Muhammad Amir also took an early retirement from Test Cricket and received heavy criticism.
If Shaheen Afridi retires due to this reason, it will not set a good example for upcoming talent as pacers will not want to play test cricket inorder to prolong their careers and avoid injuries.
Cricket Legends like Waseem Akram have previously criticized these moves as well.
Shaheen Afridi is a premium bowler and has won Pakistan some important matches but has been injured as well.
His fitness is also very important for Pakistan Cricket so if he retires from test cricket, PCB might closely have to see how they’ll have to respond to this.
