Shahid Afridi ‘forgets’ ‘forgiveness’, now says not interested in IPL

Hours after he preached ‘forgiveness’ and said it was time to move on after the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction controversy, flamboyant Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi took a u-turn, saying apologies could not compensate for the humiliation faced by the Pakistani cricketers.

Afridi said he is no longer interested in taking part in the IPL, which is in clear contrast from his earlier statement in which he said that he had forgotten what had happened in the auction of the T20 league’s auction in Mumbai earlier this month.

“ I am not at all interested in taking part in the IPL. These issues of the Pakistan cricketers should have been sorted out before the auction,” The Daily Times quoted Afridi, as saying.

“I am not talking about myself only, but I think, all were left insulted after the incident. The IPL franchises must have had something in their minds,” he added.

Afridi had earlier said that he didn’t wanted to dig further into the issue, which could worsen ties between both the countries, rather work to bridge the gap, and would be happy to play in India if given an opportunity.

 “If I am invited to play in India again I would do so happily, they have great fans and great stadiums and I have many friends there. Sport should be used to build peace between our great nations, not break them,” the hard hitting all rounder had said.

Responding to a question that whether he sees the ‘snub’ as a politically motivated move, Pakistan’s T20 captain said politics played a major role in sports management in both India and Pakistan.

“When the bilateral relations between the two countries are not good, how do you expect sports to flourish?” Afridi said.