CRICKET
Does Shahid Afridi deserve a farewell game ?
When a journalist recently asked Shahid Afridi about his fi tness , he was met with a typical Afridi cross bat response : “ Alhamdulillah , tum jaise dus bande main abhi bhi sambhaal sakta hoon ( by the grace of God , I can still take on 10 guys like you ).” In the same interview , he expressed his desire to represent Pakistan . By some media accounts , Afridi was in talks with chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq and was seeking a farewell game against the West Indies in the United Arab Emirates later this month . His wish has been turned down for now . In October last year , Virender Sehwag tweeted , “ I hereby retire from all forms of international cricket and from the Indian Premier League . A statement will follow .” For some , it was a surprise announcement , presuming his retirement at the age of 37 , with his last international game in 2013 . Now in the wake of the Twenty 20 Masters Champions League , whose rules preclude any current international cricketer , Sehwag was forced to announce the obvious . With a shed of emotion ─ and perhaps fanning an open wound ─ he asked , “ Should not a player who has played 12 to 13 years for his country deserve a farewell match ?” A pertinent question . Ask West Indies ’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul . Leaked e-mail threads between Chanderpaul , coach Phill Simmons and chief selector Clive Lloyd portray a bitter tale . After being informed of his omission due to lack of form , Chanderpaul pleaded , “ My request to fi nish up with the Australian series is not asking too much . It gives me a chance to acknowledge my supporters at home and the possibility of the WICB properly honouring me for my contribution to West Indies cricket . I should not be pushed into retirement .” His request for a befi tting farewell was made in vain . Take that and put it against a series-long homage given to Steve Waugh in the Australian summer of 2003-04 . The Border Gavaskar series was overshadowed by the presence and departure of one man . Ten years later , Sehwag ’ s opening partner Sachin Tendulkar would have a tailor-made farewell for him in his home city of Mumbai against a bottomranked depleted West Indian team . Abdul Hafeez Kardar , widely regarded as the father of Pakistan cricket , was revered as a leader as equally as he was feared as an authoritarian . Exhausted at the age of 33 , he hung up his boots after a tour of West Indies in 1958 , and Fazal Mahmood succeeded him as captain . The next season , before a tour of India , Kardar came out of retirement . With an already-frictional relationship between the two , Fazal and Kardar faced off as rival captains in a trial game that was to decide the captain that would lead the
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team in India . Coincidentally , Fazal ’ s father-in-law Mohammad Saeed was on the selection panel . Fazal got the nod ahead of Kardar , who was nursing an injury . Saeed ’ s own career was earlier put to an abrupt end when Kardar , handpicked by Justice R . A . Cornelius , replaced him as captain of Pakistan . Saeed attempted a comeback , but Kardar reportedly contacted President Iskander Mirza to end Saeed ’ s pursuit . A precedent was set ; Pakistan ’ s earliest cricketing heroes were trying to hold onto something that had already passed them by . Sixty years down , little changed . Fazal also felt betrayed when Imtiaz Ahmed and Hanif Mohammad dragged him down at the end of his career . Hanif was forced to retire mid-series after the fi rst Test of a series against New Zealand . Majid Khan played his last Test when he was ousted under the captaincy of his younger cousin , Imran Khan . Mushtaq Mohammad accused his friend , Asif Iqbal , to have conspired his ouster . An ageing Javed Miandad went out of international cricket fi ghting for his place in the side while trying to win a quarter-fi nal game against India in Bangalore . The careers of Wasim Akram , Waqar Younis and Saeed Anwar were put to a forced end by ex-teammate and chief selector Aamir Sohail . If you look at stars like Abdul Razzaq and Mohammad Yousuf , it is hard to tell if they ever actually retired . Very often they appear unsure themselves , hanging on by the thread of hope and uncertainty in Pakistani cricket where anything can happen . It often does . The list is long and painful . Guards of honour ─ a recent phenomena in cricket ─ are hard to fi nd , and an Imran Khan farewell even harder to emulate . Younis Khan , too , retired from the game ’ s shortest format after picking up the World T20 trophy for Pakistan . But his ODI retirement was controversial . After extreme insistence on getting a place in the ODI team , he announced his retirement on the morning of his comeback game . The Pakistan Cricket Board ( PCB ) Chairman Shaharyar Khan said , “ I am disappointed at not only his decision to retire from ODIs but also the timing of his decision .” “ If [ Younis Khan ] wanted to make a comeback to the one-day team and prove to people that he can still play that format , he should have just said it and asked for it and I guess the selectors would have given him the game time and opportunity ,” said upset coach Waqar Younis . Easier said than done ; Younis Khan later explained that his decision was not sudden or abrupt , but he had “ dreamt ” about this many times , keeping it close to his heart . This is how he wanted it . It was important to him and he was not going to trust anyone with it , and least the PCB . It is common for