Former captain and disgruntled cricket hero Shahid Afridi met Chairman PCB Ijaz Butt in Islamabad today to resolve their dispute out of the court. According to sources, several government officials were also present to overlook and facilitate the compromise.
Geo TV reported a short while ago that during the meeting both sides exchanged views candidly but after heated arguments reached a consensus amicably in the end. Afridi has agreed to withdraw the case from Sindh High Court (SHC), while getting his NOC re-issued in return. He will appear before the Disciplinary Committee of the PCB to follow the usual process as he had breached the Code of Conduct.
The case was to be heard on 16th June by SHC.
It is expected that Afridi will soon fly to UK to participate in the T20 competition. He is now free to play in the Sri Lankan T20 League and domestic T20 tournament as well.
Update (15 June): Lawyers representing Afridi have officially withdrawn the petition from the SHC. Ali Zafar, Afridi's lawyer said: "The petition has been withdrawn as a part of the reconciliation between both sides." Next step is the meeting of Afridi with the Disciplinary Committee, which according to the board is a matter of couple of days. "We hope that the NOC will now be granted," Zafar said. "The disciplinary committee hearing will be a kind of formality now."
There is no indication yet on his 'conditional' retirement. Neither Afridi nor Butt have commented on it so far.
Published in sportpulse.net on 14 June 2011
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