Pakistan legend Shahid Afridi is finally en route to the LPL in Sri Lanka after missing his initial flight on Monday.
The 45-year-old retired from Pakistan duty in 2017 and since then, other than a solitary international outing as captain of the World XI for a charity match at Lords, he has exclusively played franchise cricket.
The Lahore Qalandars all-rounder took 2-18 but was dismissed for a golden duck in a PSL Eliminator defeat to the Multan Sultans just over a week ago.
Yet, there’s often a quick turnaround between tournaments for T20 stars and he’s had to pick himself up again quickly ahead of a trip to Sri Lanka to play in the LPL.
Afridi is one of several big-name stars taking part in the rescheduled competition and he’ll be representing Galle Gladiators.
The veteran had been due to arrive in Sri Lanka on Monday but, remarkably, he managed to miss his flight.
The embarrassing blunder ensures he’s set to miss his side’s first two matches in the competition, which gets underway on Thursday.
Afridi has confirmed he is finally on his way now, though, flying firstly to the capital, Colombo, before heading to the coastal of town Hambantota to join up with his teammates.
He’s set to skipper the Gladiators and will be joined by Pakistan seamer Mohammad Amir, West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman Chadwick Walton and Sri Lanka spinners Akila Dananjaya and Lakshan Sandakan.
Afridi has a career T20 batting strike rate of 153.58 but he’s starred more regularly with the ball and has taken an incredible 342 wickets in the format at an average of 22.20.