AFGHANISTAN’s former skipper Asghar Afghan on Sunday played his last cricket match against Namibia at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi in the Super 12 of the T20 World Cup.

Asghar Afghan received the guard of honour by both Afghanistan and Namibia teams when he came out to bat and when he went back to the pavilion. In fact, fans sitting in the crowd saluted Asghar Afghan when he was dismissed on 31 by Ruben Trumpelmann.

On Saturday, Asghar Afghan took to his social media and announced that he will retire from all forms of cricket after the match against Namibia in the T20 World Cup 2021.

The decision by Afghan shocked the fans as he announced it in the middle of the tournament. Some fans even sensed that there must be something wrong in the dressing room and that’s why the 33-year-old cricketer announced his retirement abruptly.

Following the completion of the first innings, Asghar Afghan opened up on the most asked question to him which is why he retired in the middle of T20 World Cup 2021.

Afghan said, “Because I wanna give a chance to youngsters, it is the perfect time for them to play for Afghanistan. Most of the people ask me this, but something we cannot explain. In the last match (against Pakistan) we had a lot of fightback, then I decided to call it a day. There is plenty of memories, it’s very difficult to explain but I had to retire.”.

Afghanistan’s former skipper Asghar Afghan on Sunday was welcomed by a guard of honour by the Namibia Cricket Team the moment he came out to bat at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. After the dismissal of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Asghar Afghan stepped out to bat for the team donning the jersey of Afghanistan for the last time in his career.

As Afghan stepped out to bat, he was early welcomed by his team-mate on the field and was given a guard of honour as a tribute to the cricketer for his service to his nation and to the game of cricket.

(republicworld.com)