T20 World Cup 2021: "I wanted to give away the opportunity for the upcoming youngsters" - Asghar Afghan

Former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan has announced his retirement from international cricket. His announcement has come midway through the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 at the age of 33 years.

Country's most successful captain, Asghar, asserted that his decision was motivated by the intention of making way for the youngsters to come forward. Speaking during the mid-innings break, Asghar Afghan said:

"I wanted to give away the opportunity for the upcoming youngsters and we've played some best cricket but this is a good opportunity for youngsters to come forward. Most of the people have been asking the same question to me, something it's hard to explain but from the last game it was hard on us and that's why I've decided to leave cricket at this stage."

Asghar Afghan signed off with a valuable knock of 31 off 23 balls against Namibia and propelled his side to a challenging total. Afghanistan posted 160 runs after opting to bat first in a must-win encounter.

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"It's very difficult to decide for retirement" - Asghar Afghan

A teary-eyed Asghar Afghan stressed that it was a difficult decision to make but he felt it was the right time to move away from international cricket.

"Plenty of memories but it's very difficult to decide for retirement, I know there are plenty of legends in the cricket watching me but this is difficult time to explain but I have to retire," Asghar Afghan concluded.

Asghar Afghan was the captain of the side when Afghanistan made their Test debut against India in 2018. He led his country to two wins and defeats each while being at the helm of the side.

The 33-year-old also has 34 ODIs and 42 T20I wins under his belt. He also holds the record for most T20I wins as captain, going past MS Dhoni's 41 victories.