 The drama between Shahid Afridi and the cricket board seems to have drawn
to a close for now. According to the latest reports, the Pakistan Cricket Board
has applied a fine to the former Pakistani captain, who has paid the fine. In
turn, Afridi will now be eligible to play in domestic cricket, both for Pakistan
and outside of Pakistan. This includes the t20 league that he will play
for Hampshire and in the Sri Lankan Premier League.
The issues had begun for Afridi when he was removed from the captaincy of the
ODIs and the T20Is. This was followed by Afridi announcing his retirement in a
huff and making his anger against the board public. The cricket board of Pakistan
had then responded by suspending the player's contract and also revoking the NOC
that they had given him to play in the domestic t20 leagues for the other countries.
Afridi took the PCB to court, where the court asked the board to appear before
it. Then, after a few days, there was a reconciliation effort from both the sides
and it was announced that Afridi had agreed to appear before its disciplinary
committee and take back the court case against the board. In turn, the board would
reinstate the NOCs that it had revoked, making way for the cricketer to play in
the domestic leagues around the world.
So, in the disciplinary committee meeting that took place on Thursday, Afridi
was fined Rs.4,500,000 and was also given his NOC for playing in the English and
the Sri Lankan t20 league.
Afridi said that while he had pleaded guilty to the charge that was laid down
against him, he had not said sorry. He also added that he understood that he had
violated the code of conduct that was laid down by the PCB, but was not apologetic
about what he had said.
He also added that he will remain retired from international cricket as he had
earlier said. Afridi had announced that he will remain conditionally retired from
international cricket till the current administration remained in power for the
kind of treatment that had been meted out to him.
Afridi will now fly down to England to play in the rest of the t20 league for
Hampshire.
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