T20 World Cup 2021: [Watch] Asghar Afghan gets guard of honour from Afghanistan teammates after final knock

Former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan announced that he would retire from cricket after their match against Namibia in the 2021 T20 World Cup today.

As the veteran’s final knock for Afghanistan came to an end, he got an emotional send-off from both his teammates and Namibia’s players. Ruben Trumpelmann, who got Afghan’s wicket, stopped short in his celebration to give him a pat on the back while other players came up to shake his hand.

Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi, who was at the non-striker’s end, raised his bat to honour Afghan. As he reached the dugout, the Afghanistan players also gave him a guard of honour, standing with their bats raised.

The 33-year-old scored 31 off 23 against Namibia to help Afghanistan post 160/5 after they opted to bat.

Asghar Afghan gets guard of honour from Namibia players

When Asghar Afghan stepped out to play his final knock, the Namibia players had also given him a guard of honour. Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus then shook his hand before carrying on with the match.

Asghar Afghan had a 16-year-long career and will retire with the record of the most wins as a captain in T20 Internationals. He played six Tests, 114 ODIs and 74 T20Is for his country. Afghan had scored his only Test century in his final game in the longest format for Afghanistan, hitting 164 against Zimbabwe in a 6-wicket win.

A well-respected figure among teammates, he captained the side for four years after the 2015 World Cup before being replaced by Gulbadin Naib ahead of the 2019 World Cup. He was reinstated as captain in December of 2019 but was replaced by Nabi earlier this year.

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Afghanistan have played two matches in the 2021 T20 World Cup so far in the Super 12 stage. They trashed Scotland by 130 runs in their first game before falling to a 5-wicket defeat to Pakistan in their next match.