LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan disclosed on Monday that Shahid Afridi was handed captaincy of the Twenty20 team after the all-rounder had given an assurance that he will retire after the World Twenty20 in India.

The 35-year-old Afridi created fresh doubts about his retirement plans when he said recently that he was under immense pressure not to call it quits.

Afridi had publically declared he will retire from the game following last year’s World Cup.

“When he was appointed captain, Afridi told us he would hang up his boots after the World Twenty20,” Shaharyar told reporters.

“But if he has changed his mind now, he should come to me and discuss it instead of giving public statements. He is the only one who can decide about his career and the PCB will not force him to retire.

“And once decides he is not retiring, the PCB will consider his performances to decide whether he can continue as a captain or as a player.”

Shaharyar, however, said that in his capacity as PCB chief, he couldn’t interfere in selection affairs.

“Although I enquire from the selectors about the reasons for a player being inducted or dropped, I cannot interfere further in their matters,” he said, adding that the selection committee should be independent “at all costs”.

Speaking hours before Pakistan were playing the UAE in a must-win match of the Asia Cup Twenty20 in Dhaka, the PCB chief said he would wait till the World Twenty20 to analyse “the performance of the selectors and the team”.

“Let’s finish the two tournaments and then we will take further decisions,” he said.

Pakistan fell to a humiliating five-wicket defeat to India in their Asia Cup opener but Shaharyar expected them to give “an improved performance in the remaining matches”

“The batsmen were dismal [Pakistan made 83 after being put into bat],” said the PCB chief. “[Indian batsman] Virat Kohli’s innings was a lesson for everyone on how to bat on a difficult pitch.”

Shaharyar added that it was now the Indian government’s responsibility to provide fool-proof security to the Pakistan team as the Pakistan government had only given PCB the clearance to send the team on assurances by their Indian counterparts.

The Indian Congress Party has threatened a grand protest against the India-Pakistan game during the World Twenty20 to be played on March 19 but Shaharyar said the BCCI “still stands firm to fulfil the commitment it has given to the ICC that all the participating teams will be provided high level security”.

“It’s our old policy to separate sports from politics and we will play all our World Twenty20 matches in India,” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2016