Despite political tensions, retired Shahid Afridi receives unique gift from Indian team

Shahid Afridi, who bid adieu to his 21-year-old career in February, was recently announced as one of eight Champion Ambassadors, for the ICC Champions Trophy

By: IANS News Agency |
April 18, 2017 9:25 pm

Despite the political tensions between India and Pakistan affecting bilateral cricket, there is no love lost among the players and this time it is the Indian team which presented a Virat Kohli shirt, signed by all the players, to former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi on his retirement from international cricket.

“To Shahid Bhai, best wishes, always a pleasure playing against you,” India skipper Kohli wrote on the shirt.

A Pakistani journalist recently posted a picture of the jersey on Twitter.

The jersey had the signatures of Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Suresh Raina, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Hardik Pandya and former Team director Ravi Shastri.

Virat Kohli-led India win hearts with special gesture for Shahid Afridi https://t.co/1RZ6eNzYTW pic.twitter.com/4T3qrhoOxa

— $@ch!n kum@₹ (@KumarSk955524) April 18, 2017

The 36-year-old Afridi, who bid adieu to his 21-year-old career in February, was recently announced as one of eight Champion Ambassadors, along with India’s Harbhajan Singh for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy, to be held in the United Kingdom from June 1 to 18.

The other ambassadors announced by the ICC are Bangladesh’s Habibul Bashar, England’s Ian Bell, New Zealand’s Shane Bond, Australia’s Mike Hussey, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and South Africa’s Graeme Smith.