Shahid Afridi rules himself out of Shpageeza Cricket League

Pakistan former captain Shahid Afridi has ruled himself out of Shpageeza Cricket League in Afghanistan due to family issues. The T20 tournament is set to commence from September 11 which will be played till September 22. The news was revealed by Afridi himself on social media website Twitter.

The six team T20 league is Afghanistan’s own franchise based T20 competition and all the matches are scheduled to play in Kabul. The news comes as a shocking one for the fans in Afghanistan who were eagerly waiting for ‘boom boom’ Afridi as he himself had cleared earlier that he will be playing in the league. He was due to play for the franchise named Speenghar Tigers.

PCB had objections with his participation

Earlier this week it was reported that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was offended by Afridi’s decision to participate in the league. According to Geo.TV, it was confirmed that the dashing batsman asked the PCB to grant him permission to play the Big Bash League and the domestic T20 League in Australia but not the Shpageeza Cricket League.

Shahid Afridi confirmed the news to Geo.tv and mentioned that he will not be playing the league. “Yes, I am not going to Kabul now,” confirmed the former skipper. He also thanked Afghanistan government for inviting him to play the league. The swashbuckling all-rounder hoped to participate in the league in the future and mentioned he will always try to bridge relations via cricket for peace between the nations. His message on the social media read, “Very thankful to AFG gvt, @ACBofficials &MuslimYar sb. Speenghar Tigers to invite me. But I have some vry urgent family issue comeup. I look fwd to come in future & support the great initiative. I support bridging relations via cricket for peace to unite nations.”

Afridi was the part of Hampshire in the recently concluded Natwest T20 Blast and scored a magnificent century opening the innings in the quarterfinals but was dismissed for a golden duck in the semi-final.