(REUTERS) – Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who was recently sacked as one-day captain, has announced his retirement from international cricket.
Afridi told Geo News television he could no longer perform for a cricket board that did not respect its senior players.
“I have decided to retire from international cricket because I am not in a mental frame of mind to continue playing under this board,” the 31-year-old said.
Afridi, who retired from Tests last year but continued to lead the team in limited-over cricket, was removed as one-day skipper earlier this month by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), with his replacement, Misbah-ul-Haq, subsequently leading the team to a 2-0 series win in Ireland.
After returning from this year’s 3-2 one-day series victory in the West Indies, Afridi complained of interference in his work.
Afridi, who appeared in 27 Tests, 325 one-day games and 43 Twenty20s for Pakistan, said he would continue to play domestic cricket and in overseas Twenty20 leagues.
Yesterday, the hard-hitting batsman and leg-spin bowler told Geo News there were “disgraceful” people in the board who could not tolerate outspoken people like him.
“I can’t work with such people. To me self-respect is more important than anything else and this board has no respect for me,” he said.
Afridi added that during his spell as one-day captain he was not consulted over squad selection and did not know until the last minute if he would be retained as skipper.
“There was no respect shown to me although I picked up a ragged and scandal-hit team and built it up into a fighting unit. We reached the 50-over World Cup semi-finals (this year) and the reward they gave me was the sack,” he said.
“They sacked me without telling me. No one bothered to even speak to me. There is a particular lobby of people … who don’t want me in the team perhaps because I don’t fit into their scheme of things. They have poisoned the chairman (Ijaz Butt) against me.”