Now Afridi's gone
After receiving a big 150 runs defeat at Lords Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi has announced his retirement from Test cricket after second Test in Headingley.
Afridi was given the captaincy Job in a difficult time and he accepted that very positively but Lords Test defeat seems to have hurt Afridi badly and he decides to say good bye to Test cricket.
With my temperament I can't play Test cricket," Afridi said. "It is better a youngster comes in my place, probably a genuine batsman or even a genuine bowler. I picked up a side injury during the Asia Cup and unless you are 100 percent fit you can't perform in Test cricket.
"I wasn't interested in playing Test cricket but the board asked me to go and take a look as they didn't have a choice. So I took up the responsibility. They asked me to take a chance and may be I would enjoy it. But I wasn't really enjoying Test cricket but I tried. I wasn't good enough. A captain should lead by example which I did not. And if I played the way I played in this match it is better to leave."
If Afridi's side injury rules him out of the second Test at Headingley his final shot in the five-day game will be the slog-sweep that picked out Mike Hussey and Afridi was honest enough to admit he just couldn't hold back. "You are right," he said. "I am coming back to Test cricket after four years and in the interim I'd played a lot of ODI and Twenty20 cricket so I came in with the same [attacking] temperament. I was in two minds. You can say I was not strong mentally."
Salman Butt is looking favorite to lead
"Salman is the vice captain and he should ideally be the man," Afridi added. "The way he has shown the maturity he is good enough to carry forward the responsibility."
Afridi is an honest man with cricket, he already had said that if I ‘be not good enough for the captaincy, I will leave it and that’s what has happened. Talking to a local news channel Afridi said Pakistan needs Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan and that’s right because what has happened today at Lords, it definitely demands Younis and Yousuf in the team otherwise Pakistan team will be left away behind in Test cricket.
Source : Pakcricketworld.com
lots of hearts are brokes by this decision