Lahore: Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has announced he will retire from one-day internationals after the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The 34-year-old all-rounder, said he wanted to choose his own time to step down.
Afridi said: “I want to go out of ODIs with self-respect and with my fans wanting more from me.”
He will continue as Pakistan Twenty20 captain and wants to focus on winning the T20 World Cup in India in 2016.
Afridi has an average of 23.49 and a strike-rate of 116.29 in ODIs, and has also taken 391 wickets at 33.89 and an economy-rate of 4.62.
Afridi, who captained the national team to the semifinals in the 2011 World Cup, has played 389 ODIs since hitting the fastest century (off 37 deliveries) on his debut in October 1996 against Sri Lanka in Nairobi. The record stood for more than 17 years before New Zealand’s Corey Anderson broke it in January this year.
I am happy about my achievements and records but the only regret I have is losing fastest ODI century record.
— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) December 21, 2014
“I always wanted to do this having seen the problems faced by other bigger players in the past. It was not an easy decision to take and I think many of my seniors also found it difficult to go out at the right time.”
“I am the first Pakistan player to be able to announce his retirement properly,” he added.
Afridi had retired once before from Pakistan’s ODI side in May 2011 in protest at the Pakistan Cricket Board, following a public row with coach Waqar Younis, but made himself available again just five months later.
