Cricket Bytes

Pakistan’s senior all-rounder Shahid Afridi is seriously considering retiring from Test cricket after national selectors ignored him for the two-match home series against Sri Lanka starting later this week.

The 28-year-old Afridi said on Thursday that he was disappointed over his failure to impress the selectors ahead of the opening Test against Sri Lanka and added that he would retire from Test cricket if Pakistan continued to ignore him for the longer version of the game.

“I was looking forward to earning a place in the Test squad,” said Afridi, who has not been in Pakistan’s Test picture for almost three years.

“But I respect the selectors’ decision,” he stressed.

Afridi played the last of his 26 Tests in the summer of 2006 against England in Manchester. Since then national selectors have curtailed his role to ODIs and Twenty20 internationals.

Afridi shot to instant stardom on his debut as a 16-year-old in 1996 when he scored the fastest ODI century in Nairobi. He has so far played 271 One-Day Internationals, scoring 5,531 runs and taking 243 wickets. His Test career is less impressive, having scored 1,683 runs from 26 Tests with 47 wickets.

Afridi was given a lifeline by national selectors when he was picked to lead the Patron’s XI against the visiting Sri Lankans in a two-day warm-up game in Karachi on February 17-18. However, in spite of hitting a 29-ball 49, Afridi was unable to convince the selectors that he deserved a Test recall.

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