Temporary Test retirement and return
On April 12, 2006, Afridi announced a temporary retirement from Test cricket until after the 2007 World Cup so that he could concentrate on ODIs. Even then his performance in county cricket for Ireland recently had declined and he bowled better than he batted. He also claimed that the workload was too much to cope with.
However, on April 27, 2006, after much discussion with Shaharyar Khan, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, Afridi reversed his decision. Despite this, Afridi was later dropped from the Test team in early August 2006 after three quick-fire innings against England. He was placed well down the batting order, away from his more usual spot in the middle-order, and displayed flamboyantly reckless strokeplay on the bouncy English pitches, leading to short but entertaining innings
(To be continoue)