{"id":21500,"date":"2025-10-01T18:04:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=21500"},"modified":"2025-10-01T18:04:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:04:01","slug":"asif-afridis-inclusion-in-the-team-for-south-africa-series-sparks-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=21500","title":{"rendered":"Asif Afridi’s inclusion in the team for South Africa series sparks debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
Questions are being raised over the sudden inclusion of Asif Afridi, convicted in a corruption case, into the national team at the age of 39. The PCB had imposed a two-year ban on the spinner in February 2023, but it was surprisingly lifted within just one year.<\/p>\n

According to details, in 2022, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa\u2019s left-arm spinner Asif Afridi was suspended by the PCB for violating the Anti-Corruption Code during the National T20 Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In February 2023, he was formally banned for two years, effective from September 12, 2022, the date of his initial suspension. But, in a surprising turn of events, he was allowed back into domestic cricket as early as October 2023.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0https:\/\/tribune.com.pk\/story\/2569764\/pakistan-name-squad-for-south-africa-test-series<\/p>\n

He was charged with breaching Article 2.4.10 of the Anti-Corruption Code \u2013 \u201cdirectly or indirectly inducing, persuading, encouraging, inciting, or intentionally facilitating any participant to commit a violation.\u201d His second charge was under Article 2.4.4 \u2013 failure to report corrupt approaches. For this, he received an additional six-month suspension, which ran concurrently with his two-year ban. Such offenses could have warranted a lifetime ban, but the board adopted a lenient approach.<\/p>\n

Two other cricketers were also suspected in this case, and a coach\u2019s role was deemed highly questionable, but no further investigations were carried out.<\/p>\n

In the KPL Asif Afridi represented Rawalakot Hawks. Even before the tournament began, organizers had suspicions about him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the PCB was asked, it replied that Asif was not barred from playing because the board wanted to \u201cget to the root of the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first rain-affected match against Jammu Janbaz, he conceded 35 runs in 3 overs with one wicket. Before the next match against Kotli, instructions had already been given to closely monitor him. In that match, Rawalakot lost by 10 wickets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Batting at number three, Asif was bowled out first ball, and with the ball, he gave away 52 runs in 4 overs without taking a wicket. After the match, tournament organizers had a detailed discussion with the PCB Anti-Corruption Unit officer.<\/p>\n

Shockingly, he was later selected for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa\u2019s squad in the National T20 Cup, which drew criticism from certain quarters. Against Central Punjab, he picked 2 wickets for 24 runs, but after that, he wasn\u2019t given another game and was again suspended.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that the first complaint against Asif was made in 2021 by a Test cricketer, who informed the PCB that Asif had approached him during the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, offering him to join a Bangladesh league and suggesting that he could also \u201cplay\u201d in certain matches for someone else. The matter was reported to the PCB, which launched an investigation. During the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final, the Anti-Corruption Unit had even confiscated Asif Afridi\u2019s mobile phone.<\/p>\n

In a video statement, he confessed to his offense.<\/p>\n

Despite this, his name was included in the PSL 2022 draft, and since the PCB gave no instructions, a franchise picked him. Although he wasn\u2019t played in the first 8 matches, he featured in 5 games, taking 8 wickets at an average of 15.50.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, he was also included in the squad for the home series against Australia, though he never got a chance to play.<\/p>\n

Now, at the age of 39, he has once again been selected \u2013 this time for the Test series against South Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is despite his average performances in the recent PSL and in first-class cricket. According to sources, a powerful selector strongly pushed for Asif\u2019s return.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Questions are being raised over the sudden inclusion of Asif Afridi, convicted in a corruption case, into the national team at the age of 39. The PCB had imposed a two-year ban on the spinner in February 2023, but it was surprisingly lifted within just one year. According to details, in 2022, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa\u2019s left-arm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}