Ex-Afghan captain Asghar emotional as he quits cricket

Afghanistan’s Asghar Afghan (left) is greeted by Namibia’s captain Gerhard Erasmus as he walks in to bat after announcing his retirement yesterday

After playing his last knock in international cricket, Former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan on Sunday became emotional and said that it's tough for him to hang his boots but he now wants to give chance to youngsters in the ongoing Men's T20 World Cup. Afghan, 33, who made a surprise announcement to retire from the sport on Saturday, received a guard of honour by the Namibian fielders when he walked in to bat in the T20 World Cup clash between both sides in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Vital knock of 31

Afghan joined his teammate Mohammad Shahzad in the middle in the final delivery of the tenth over after Rahmanullah Gurbaz was trapped LBW on four by Loftie-Eaton. He played a vital knock of 31 runs before being dismissed by Ruben Trumpelmann in the 19-over of the innings.

After his dismissal, many Namibian fielders congratulated him as he returned to the pavilion with a second guard of honour, as Afghanistan players lined up just outside the boundary ropes. "I want to give a chance to youngsters now. Most of people asked me to continue till the end of the tournament, but I thought this is the right time. There are plenty of memories. This is tough for me," said an emotional Asghar Afghan during the innings break. Asghar played six Tests, 114 ODIs and 75 T20Is and has scored 4,215 runs across formats. He led Afghanistan in 115 matches.

Afghanistan beat Namibia

Meanwhile, Afghanistan registered their second win, beating Namibia by 62 runs. Batting first, the Afghans made 160-5, following which Namibia could only manage 98-9.

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