Pakistan’s former flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi on Friday thanked Virat Kohli and the entire Indian team for sending him the special farewell gift.
Acknowledging the “wonderful” gesture, Afridi tweeted: “Thank you to you and the entire Indian team for a wonderful farewell gift @imVkohli. Respect superstar, hope to see you soon.”
In a heartwarming show of sportsmanship and camaraderie, the Indian cricket team had sent a special retirement gift to Afridi by presenting him a Kohli shirt signed by all the players.
Pakistani journalist Faizan Lakhani uploaded the shirt on which Kohli wrote: “Shahid Bhai, best wishes, always a pleasure playing against you”.
The jersey – number 18 and VIRAT on it – had the signatures of Kohli, Ashish Nehra, Suresh Raina, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Hardik Pandya, among others.The 37-year-old Afridi bid adieu to his 21-year-old international career in February when he announced his retirement from the T20 format. He had already retired from Test and One-Day formats of the game.
He was recently announced as one of eight Champion Ambassadors for the Champions Trophy to be held in the United Kingdom from June 1 to 18, along with Harbhajan Singh, Habibul Bashar, Ian Bell, Shane Bond, Mike Hussey, Kumar Sangakkara and Graeme Smith.