Shahid Afridi gets the guard of honour at Lord's

Former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi got yet another chance to play international cricket. He did not don the Pakistani jersey again but got his opportunity to play in the charity game against Windies. Afridi led the World XI side in the one off T20I game played at the iconic venue of Lord’s. He was initially named in the squad in the capacity of an all-rounder.

But when Eoin Morgan, who was named as the World XI captain, pulled out of the game due to an injury, Afridi found himself being named as the new captain of the side. He led the team that boasted of several big stars of world cricket. The likes of Luke Ronchi, Dinesh Karthik, and Rashid Khan turned up for World XI in the match. Shahid Afridi also had the company of his former Pakistani teammate Shoaib Malik.

In the match, he won the toss and asked Windies to bat first. Before the World XI took to field, the players of the side lined up to give a guard of honor to Shahid Afridi. Afridi has been one of the greatest all-rounders to have played the game of cricket. He is revered as the most entertaining cricketer of his era from Pakistan cricket.

Unfortunately for Afridi and co., they lost the match miserably. Windies posted a mammoth 199 on board riding on a quick fifty by Evin Lewis. Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, and Marlon Samuels also played handy cameos with the bat. Afridi returned with figures of 1/34 in the four overs that he bowled. He took the wicket of Andre Fletcher in the game. He flummoxed the middle-order batsman with a classical leg spin delivery.

In the run chase, World XI were in dire straits at one moment with the scorecard reading 8/4 in the powerplay. A fighting 61 from Thisara Perera helped them crawl past the 100-run mark. The innings eventually folded out on 127 in 16.4 overs. Afridi, with the bat, could only score 11 off the 12 balls that he faced. World XI lost by 72 runs.

Watch Shahid Afridi getting the guard of honor at the Lord’s by World XI players:

Guard of honour for Shahid Afridi as he says farewell to international cricket #CricketRelief pic.twitter.com/Aog3X0aL85

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) May 31, 2018