Shahid Afridi did not opt to pull out from the Ireland One-Day series in protest

It has been revealed by reliable sources that the former One-Day captain, Shahid Afridi, did not opt out of the two-match One-Day tournament against Ireland as a protest after he was sacked as from Captaincy.

“Afridi is obviously disappointed as he really wanted to play. Genuine problems forced his withdrawal and he isn’t making fake excuses. Also, he doesn’t have any plans to quit international cricket at the moment,” a source revealed.

Meanwhile, speaking on the matter himself, Afridi said, “I had to extend my visit due to my father’s illness. I’m facing problems in getting flights to Ireland as well. Now, it’s almost impossible to make it to Belfast before the start of the series.”

Since Afridi’s pull-out was a last moment affair, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has not bothered to call in a replacement for the flamboyant all-rounder.

Afridi was an ace bowler in the recently concluded ICC World Cup 2011 which was jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

He was removed from his post as the captain of the national team after he had developed differences with the head-coach, Waqar Younis, during the last leg of the five-match One-Day series. Pakistan took the event by winning the first three games while the tourists lost the last two.

On his return, Afridi hinted the existence of too much outside interference in the selection of the playing XI.

Apparently, the skipper wanted to give the youngsters a chance to test their abilities in the fourth and fifth match, while Waqar was not amused by the proposal.

Afridi is believed to have threatened to pull-out of the last two games as well.

According to the news, Ijaz Butt was not pleased by the behaviour of the one-day skipper and made up his mind to remove the hard hitting batsman.

After a long consultation with the selection committee, the decision was finally taken and it is now believed that Misbah-ul-Haq will remain the one-day captain for another five to six months, after which, Mohammad Hafeez, will be given the realms of the national team.

The PCB officials have, however, insisted that Afridi still has a lot to offer the national team as a cricketer, due to which he was named in the One-Day squad for the Ireland tour.