Asif Iqbal's take on Afridi's U-Turn

Asif Iqbal has an interesting take on Afridi's decision to restart playing test cricket.

"The other interesting cricket-related development during the past few days has been the withdrawal of Shahid Afridi's retirement from Test cricket. Announced immediately after the Kandy Test it was withdrawn in less than a fortnight and although this is not the first time that a Pakistani Test cricketer has 'come back' from retirement, seldom has the journey to and back been as short as this. Of course, I cannot think of anyone who took the retirement seriously and I cannot see how the entire episode has enhanced Afridi's image in any way, in any quarter. The incident shows just how huge a task the PCB has when it says that grooming Pakistan's cricketers socially is also going to be one of its jobs at the National Cricket Academy. Education is not only a matter of speaking fluent English; it also implies an appreciation of one's position and the high profile one enjoys, and then behaving in a manner that is commensurate with that high profile. This includes how one behaves in restaurants, hotels, shops, the gym and even in one's private life for one of the prices that one has to pay for being a celebrity is that there is virtually no such thing as a private life. If indeed it is true to say that cricket reveals the man, it is not difficult to see where the immaturity in Afridi's batting comes from!"