Twitter trolls Shahid Afridi after Lionel Messi's retirement from international football

By Veeran Rajendiran

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Shahid Afridi
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Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi speaks to the media in Karachi. (Photo by RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images)

Lionel Messi, the football powerhouse, shocked the sporting world with his abrupt decision to retire from international soccer following Argentina’s 4-2 defeat to Chile on penalties in the 2016 Copa America final. The news was a stunner and its impact was visible in every part of the globe.

There were heartbroken fans in huge masses, banners, and loud slogans. The impact was visible in the India as well but in a twisted manner as cricket fans dragged former Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi and trolled him.

Twitter was abuzz and humorous potshots at Afridi. Some fans, players, and even Argentina’s president and the country’s greatest player Diego Maradona asked Messi to reconsider. Similarly, Cricket fans argued for Messi to make a return just like Afridi has in the past, with ‘Be Like Bill’ memes changed to ‘Be Like Afridi’ memes.

Messi, who turned 29 on Friday, won under-20 and Olympic (under-23) titles with Argentina. He has led Barcelona to four Champions League and eight Spanish league titles, scoring 453 competitive goals in 531 games, including a La Liga-record 312. He is the national team’s career leading scorer with 55 goals in 113 international appearances.

However, the superstar has repeatedly failed to emulate similar title winning performances for his country. Messi and Argentina lost to Brazil in the 2007 Copa final and to Germany in extra time in the 2014 World Cup final. They lost last year’s Copa final to host Chile on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw.

Shahid Afridi in the past has retired several times. But, he has from time to time proved that it doesn’t count for him. Afridi first quit Test cricket in April 2006 but changed his mind by the end of the same month.

Later that summer he quit Tests again, until 2010. He came back as captain for a single match before quitting for the third time. The year 2011 saw him quit international cricket because of his feud with PCB. In 2012, he again decided to stop playing ODI cricket but was persuaded to stay until after the World Cup in 2015.

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