ABHISHEK SINGH ∙ 16 May 2021
When Malik became captain, I had thoughts of quitting cricket: Shahid Afridi
Shahid Afridi, arguably Pakistan’s most famous cricketer after Imran Khan has revealed an incident where he thought of quitting professional cricket, as early as 2009. The 41-year-old felt that after his herpes in the 2009 World T20 winning campaign of the team, he wasn’t really given as much importance as he should have been and Shoaib Malik was made the skipper instead of him. “Shoaib Malik had become the captain and there was a lot of politics going on within the team,” Afridi was quoted as saying to Samaa TV. Boom-Boom recalled that at that point in time an elderly persona and the might Allah himself came to his rescue and put some sense into his mind. Talking about the elderly man, Afridi said, “He said you’re so worried about your own performance and worldly matters. Just compare your hardships to those of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and you will realise that yours are nothing." The Multan Sultans player who played 398 ODIs, 99 T20is and 27 Tests for his country shed light on the 2007 Shoaib Akhtar- Mohammad Asif controversy as well, where Ajhtar was sent back to Pakistan after having hit Asif with a bat during a dressing room argument. “Things happen,” Afridi said. “Asif had sided with me in a joke which enraged Shoaib and all this happened. But Shoaib has a very beautiful heart,” added the man who scored 11,196 runs and took 541 wickets in his 20 years long international career.
