Afridi was charged with violating its code of conduct by “passing
disparaging remarks about the board and its officials,” the PCB said in a
statement. It told Afridi to respond to the charge within a week.
The PCB also revoked his no objection certificates,
preventing him from playing for Hampshire in the English county Twenty20
tournament and a Sri Lankan Twenty20 event next month.
“Revoking all the NOCs naturally means that we don't want
him to be selected in any team,” PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar said.
Afridi, who has represented Pakistan since 1996, announced
on Monday his conditional international retirement in protest at the PCB leadership.
But the enigmatic all-rounder added he could reverse his decision if the
leadership changed.
Afridi said he'd been “humiliated” by a board of “dishonorable
people,” for whom he couldn't represent.
Much of his frustration stemmed from the delay in naming him
as captain for the away series against New Zealand, and then just barely before
the World Cup, and the lack of tenure. One of Pakistan's greatest limited-overs
players, he led the team to victory in New Zealand, then led it to the World
Cup semifinals as the tournament's leading wicket-taker.
He then skippered a series win in West Indies, but returned
this month criticizing team management and was stripped of the captaincy.
Afridi was selected for the two recent ODIs against Ireland
but pulled out due to his father being ill.
Butt reportedly said he had solid reasons for removing
Afridi as captain for the Ireland series, but would reveal them only at the
right time.
Butt said on Tuesday he accepted Afridi's decision to quit
international cricket.
“He is welcome if he does not want to play under the present
(PCB) setup,” he said.
Afridi rose to prominence in just his second ODI when he
slammed the world's fastest ODI century - off 37 balls - against Sri Lanka at
Nairobi.
His aggressiveness suited the shorter versions of the game,
as he ranked third in Pakistan history for ODIs played (320) and wickets (313)
with his fastish legspin bowling. He ranked sixth in runs (6,658) with 289
sixes — the most hit by any batsman in the world.
Afridi played 27 Tests before retiring from the longer
version of the game last year during the series against Australia after scoring
1,716 runs that included five centuries.
