Shahid Afridi, the former Pakistan captain, has taken back his conditional retirement and wants to play in Pakistan's one-day international (ODI) series against Sri Lanka in the UAE in November.
Afridi stepped away from the game less than five months ago, after he was removed from the captaincy by the former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt. Butt's tenure ended last week and he was replaced by Zaka Ashraf, prompting Afridi to go public with his desire to return.
"I had said clearly that I will not play under the previous board and team management set-ups. Now that both are changed I am available for national selection again," Afridi told reporters in Karachi.
Afridi was removed in May after developing differences with the former coach Waqar Younis on a tour to the West Indies; the pair had been on uneasy terms for a while before but the rift grew in the Caribbean. A report from Pakistan's manager on that tour said Afridi walked out of team meetings twice on the tour due over selection issues.
"I had problems with the previous board and team management and I had made it clear they didn't allow me to enjoy my cricket for Pakistan," Afridi said, who led Pakistan to the 2011 Cricket World Cup semi-finals.
"Now that the board and team management set-ups are changed I am ready to play for my country and available for selection. I feel I still have a few years of cricket left in me."
Younis, who resigned as head coach after the recent tour of Zimbabwe, said he never had a problem with Afridi. "Retirement was his decision and coming out of retirement is also his decision," said Younis, currently in the UAE on a broadcast assignment for the ongoing Pakistan-Sri Lanka series.
"I never had any personal problems with him," Younis said. "The controversy was unfortunate but he was always and will be like a little brother to me. If he had a problem with me he could've talked to me about it. I had no issue."
Retirement, and coming out of it, is not new to Afridi. In 2006, he announced a brief retirement from Test cricket, only to take it back soon after. He did not play any further five-day games, however, until he was surprisingly appointed Test captain for Pakistan's tour to England in 2010. But moments after a first Test loss to Australia at Lord's, he announced his Test retirement again.
The PCB has yet to make an official statement on the matter and presumably the decision on whether or not to recall him will have to be approved by authorities higher than just the selection committee.
Pakistan are currently playing Sri Lanka in the first Test match in Abu Dhabi.
