Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Shahid Afridi 'quits' international cricket

This is not Shahid Afridi's first retirement from the game, though it is the first time he has quit the shorter formats © Associated Press

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Related LinksNews : Ijaz Butt defends sacking of Afridi
News : Afridi pulls out of Ireland ODIs
News : Misbah replaces Afridi as ODI captain
Players/Officials: Shahid Afridi
Teams: Pakistan


Shahid Afridi, Pakistan's recently axed one-day captain, has announced his "conditional" retirement from the international game, as a mark of protest against the way he has been "humiliated" by the PCB. However, Afridi said he was ready to reverse his decision if and when a new board came into power.

"There is nothing bigger than a man's respect, and the way the board has treated me, there is a limit to everything," Afridi was quoted as saying by Geo TV in Pakistan and by the Jang newspaper. "I will not play under this board. If a different board comes in, I will definitely return but I cannot play under this board. When you have been humiliated like this, by dishonourable people, what is the point in playing on?

"The way I've been treated ... the future doesn't look too good. I can't play under a board that doesn't respect its players. Because of this, under protest, this is a conditional retirement.

"I wasn't told anything when I was made captain, I wasn't given a tenure, I wasn't told what my squad would be, nothing. I took a broken team along with me. Maybe I have become a thorn in their throats. Its better that I step aside for now as I have respect for myself."

The retirement follows on the heels of Afridi's sacking as ODI captain despite Pakistan's 3-2 success against West Indies. Though the board did not give official reasons for the removal, it was believed to be the result of growing differences Afridi had with coach Waqar Younis, in particular over matters of selection.

"We had very solid reasons to remove Afridi and I will reveal them when the time is right," PCB chairman Ijaz Butt had said. "We haven't taken this action without any reasons."

On his return from the Caribbean, Afridi referred to the situation with Waqar, saying, "Although the differences in team management are not such which could not be solved, I feel everyone should do his job and need not interfere in other's work". That led to the board issuing him a showcause notice to explain his remarks, and presumably formed part of the reasons for his removal. Subsequently Afridi decided to pull out of the two ODIs against Ireland; speculation was that he was unhappy over his ouster, though he said he had decided to miss the series due to his father's ill-health. Pakistan have since gone on to win that series 2-0, though they were stretched in the second match.

Afridi is not new to retirement. He first announced a temporary sabbatical from Test cricket in April 2006, in a bid to concentrate only on ODIs in the lead-up to the 2007 World Cup. But he then said that he would reconsider his 'retirement' after the World Cup. He later returned to the side, and even led Pakistan's Test side at the start of their tumultuous tour of England last summer. He, however, once again retired from the longest format, as soon as Pakistan lost the first Test against Australia at Lord's. Afridi was one of the culprits in Pakistan's spineless second-innings effort, holing out against part-timer Marcus North who ran through the line-up.

"With my temperament I can't play Test cricket," Afridi said then. "I wasn't interested in playing Test cricket but the board asked me to go and take a look as they didn't have a choice. But I wasn't really enjoying Test cricket but I tried. I wasn't good enough. A captain should lead by example which I did not."

Afridi was replaced by the then vice-captain Salman Butt, who held the reins until he was ousted following the spot-fixing scandal, at which stage Misbah took charge of the Test side. Afridi remained at the helm in the shorter versions, and led from the front as Pakistan outperformed in the lead-up to, and during, the 2011 World Cup.

Afridi is currently in England and is set to play for Hampshire in the Friends Provident t20. He will also be available for the inaugural edition of the Sri Lankan Premier League, and will participate in domestic cricket in Pakistan.

Latest Nokia X1-01 & Nokia C2-00 With Dual SIM

Today Nokia announced dual SIM Nokia X1-01 and the first shipment of dual SIM Nokia C2-00. These phones offer dual SIM experience than any other model in the market, user settings up to five different SIM cards and without compromising battery life, features music and messaging.

Dual SIM, dual-mode device is expected that users can choose the SIM card for calls, messages and other functions, and switch between them easily from call to call. “Dual Standby” means that you can always receive notification of calls and messages in each account instead of having to change their SIM cards in and out.

Let’s note some of the many reasons that people want to dual SIM devices in another post later today, but one of the most obvious is the possibility of saving money by having two different offers to the operators perhaps one offers local calls low cost, while another is better value for distance, for example.

Both devices are no-nonsense, low-cost phones that offer exceptionally long life. That is up to 43 days standby and 13 hours of conversation in the Nokia X1-01 – or 36 hours if you choose to play music firmly. The Nokia C2-00 offers a huge 19.2 days still waiting, with 5.75 hours of talk time. Both devices are aimed at developing markets in which often a source of consistent and reliable power is not yet a reality. The daily recharge many smart phone users in other regions have used to not always an option in some parts of the world.

Nokia X1-01
The Nokia X1-01 is a music machine, as evidenced by the large speaker on the back, which can deliver up to 106 phon. A phon is a unit of perceived loudness. If you have 106 of them on a mobile device, is strong enough to serve as an interim home entertainment. It has also been specially tuned so that there is little distortion, even when presented at eleven. The Nokia X1-01 has, in fact, is the speaker louder and more clear that Nokia has ever produced!

The device supports up to 16GB of storage via SD card slot, enough for thousands of songs on board. It has an FM radio, of course and also an MP3 music player with dedicated music keys and creating a single click from a playlist. The AV of 3.5 mm can be used to plug the output to speakers or headphones even stronger. The Nokia X1-01 also has a flashlight on top. This is a useful feature for anyone, but especially so if you can not rely on the power supply or where there is civic enlightenment.

In addition to remembering the settings for up to five SIM cards, the Nokia X1-01 also allows you to give each SIM your own logo, signature music or tone.



Nokia C2-00
The Nokia C2-00 offers a huge bunch of additional features. The most important is how SIM cards are arranged, allowing easy sharing, a feature that only the supply of Nokia. A SIM card is stored internally as a traditional and the second is easily accessible through a slot in the side, so you do not have to open or even off the phone to change SIM. This is especially useful for people who want to use more than two SIM cards, as if the phone was to be shared among different members of a family, a group of friends or members of communities, for example.

While the Nokia X1-01 runs the Series 30 operating system, the C2-00 runs Nokia Series 40, which offers some key advantages in the form of Internet access, a web browser and Nokia’s messaging email . The C2-00 Nokia also offers a VGA camera and MMS messaging allows. No support for up to 32 GB of storage with an SD card, allowing users to carry thousands of photos, videos and music files.



The Nokia and Nokia X1-01 C2-00 will be delivered this quarter in India, Pakistan, China, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Eurasia and Brazil. Before local taxes or subsidies, the X1-01 will cost € 34 (Rs.4200) while the C2-00 will cost € 45 (Rs.5500 ).

Nokia X1-01 Price in Pakistan

Nokia X1-01 is launched recently by Nokia that is easily affordable at unbelievable low price in Pakistan. This handset is enriched with countless qualities. One of the most elegant features of this Nokia phone is its dual sim function that is really amazing because we can use at a time two numbers, one for the family and other for the business. Nokia X1-01 keeps the capacity of 500 contacts in its phone book. The mentioned hand set is equipped with so many qualities as; vibration, polyphonic tones and MP3tones.Another striking quality of this cell phone is stereo FM Radio. Its battery timing is long life. Nokia X1-01 is amazing because of its Flash light, Speaking Clock and predictive text input. It looks elegant with red, dark grey, ocean blue and orange colors. One can not keep himself beware of praising this beautiful mobile phone.
Features

■Stereo FM radio
■microSD up to 16GB supported
■1.8 inches Display Size
■Dual SIM
■Flashlight
■MP3 player

Price: Abour PKR 4000