Shahid Afridi Wanted A Farewell Match Before Retiring, Gets Life Threat From Dawood Ibrahim Instead

Most people consider Shahid Afridi as a cricketer who never seems to retire from the game. While people may observe that Afridi has always had a love-hate relationship with cricket fans, his will to do his best for Pakistan has hardly been in doubt. After an illustrious career that started in 1996, Afridi wanted to play a 'farewell' match, just so that he could bow out of international cricket on a high in front of his fans. Now, as it turns out, Afridi's desire could land him in serious trouble. According to a report on ABPLive, Afridi has received threats from none other than Dawood Ibrahim if he doesn't shut up talking about former captain Javed Miandad, a relative of the underworld don.

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Miandad had serious issues with Afridi looking for a 'farewell match'. Miandad alleged on a TV show that Afridi wants to play the farewell game 'just for money'. Rebutting this, Afridi told the media that 'Miandad has always had issues with money'. Despite Afridi not seeking an apology, Miandad then said that 'he forgave Afridi for his comments'.

This was followed by a series of tweets by Afridi hitting out at Miandad and all those who slammed him for not giving his best for Pakistan. "Javed Miandad is legend of cricket but he used very harsh words on TV for long time. He made personal attack on me for no reason. I tolerated for long time but every person has a limit, sad that Javed Miandad was making personal attacks for long time. I regret what I said to a senior but of course I had to eventually react to his behaviour.

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"Javed Bhai has pardoned me? Thanks, But has he withdrawn his allegations, what has he got to say to that? His allegations caused pain & grief to me my family and my fans, is he retracting from his actual allegation? I consider him an elder and hope he'll take back his actual words. Else I'll have to seek answer and justice to clear my reputation in court. Nothing matters more to me then playing for my country with pride, no one can accuse me of selling my country. I want to stress that I have great respect for Javed Bhai he is our hero, our legend, he's my mentor too. I'll never lose regard for him," Afridi said via twitter.

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Former captains have voiced different opinions about the issue. Where Inzamam-ul Haq, Pakistan's chief selector now, has said that Afridi does deserve a farewell match, Wasim Akram hopes for a truce between Afridi and Miandad.

Afridi has only been playing T20 international cricket since the 2015 Cricket World Cup and is the leading wicket-taker in the format with 97 scalps.