Drained Afridi to skip tour of West Indies

"Afridi has told the Pakistan Cricket Board that he should not be considered for the coming tour as he wants to rest for a while from competitive cricket," a source in the board said late night.

He said that Afridi's decision stemmed from the disappointment of having lost the World Cup semifinal to India when expectations were high from the team. "He has said that right now he is not in the state of mind to go on tour after the gruelling World Cup campaign and wants a break from the game," the source said.

After losing the semifinal, Afridi had defended the performance of his team and said he was proud of its show in the mega event. He had also apologised to the nation after the defeat insisting the team had reached the semifinals as promised by him before leaving for the campaign.

The 31-year-old all-rounder, who ended with 21 wickets in the World Cup, has retired from Test cricket and only focuses on ODI and Twenty20 cricket and leads the team in both forms of the game. Misbah-ul-Haq, under fire since Wednesday for his slow batting in the semifinal, has been Test captain in Pakistan's last two series with South Africa and New Zealand.

Afridi and his men are due to return to Karachi from India to a warm welcome. Later in the week chief selector Mohsin Khan will meet the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt to discuss the World Cup performance of the team and the selection policy for the coming tour to the West Indies starting April 21.