Don’t you people feel Shoaib Akhtar deserved to be given a chance to play atleast one of the matches, after he had announced his retirement after the World Cup?
Re: Feel sorry for Shoaib Akhtar!
I hope the decision to exclude Shoaib was made after considering his performance against NZ and his level of fitness, and not because of some behind the scenes intrigues or rivalry between players. If so, I do not think dropping him was a bad decision after all. Current performance should always trump personalities or reputation. No one is indispensable. At least as far as bowling is concerned, we are remarkably blessed and have the luxury of dropping even a senior player if that player is not performing well.
Ideally Shoaib should have played and given a proper farewell. But there was more at stake than how the career of one player, however brilliant—and Shoaib was brilliant in his heyday—ended. I am sure Shoaib would understand too. When you are playing for the love of your country, you realize that what is in the interest of your national team is more important and takes priority to your own personal records and parochial interests.