Pakistan's former One-Day International (ODI) captain Shahid Afridi has announced retirement from international cricket, blaming the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for his sudden decision.
"I have decided to retire from international cricket because I am not in a mental frame of mind to continue playing under this board," Geo News quoted Afridi, as saying.
Afridi, who retired from Tests last year, but continued to lead the team in limited-overs cricket, was removed as one-day skipper earlier this month by the PCB.
He had developed differences with Pakistan coach Waqar Younis on selection matters during the team's 3-2 win against the West Indies earlier this month, and his public criticism of the coach ultimately led to him losing the captaincy.
The 31-year-old said that there were "disgraceful" people in the board who could not tolerate outspoken people like him.
"I can't work with such people. To me self-respect is more important than anything else and this board has no respect for me," he said.
Afridi added that during his spell as one-day captain, he was not consulted over squad selection and did not know until the last minute if he would be retained as skipper.
"There was no respect shown to me although I picked up a ragged and scandal-hit team and built it up into a fighting unit. We reached the 50-over World Cup semi-finals (this year) and the reward they gave me was the sack," he said, adding: "They sacked me without telling me. No one bothered to even speak to me."
Afridi said that a particular lobby of people in the board "poisoned" PCB chief Ijaz Butt against him.
"There is a particular lobby of people ... who don't want me in the team perhaps because I don't fit into their scheme of things. They have poisoned the chairman (Ijaz Butt) against me," he alleged. (ANI)
