Shaheen Afridi to return from Middlesex ahead of home series against West Indies

Pakistan left-arm seamer Shaheen Afridi is set to leave his county Middlesex and return home ahead of the upcoming white-ball series against the West Indies.

Afridi, who has represented Middlesex in 3 Division II County Championship games so far, was initially slated to leave the county in early June.

However, he is now returning ahead of schedule in order to take some time off from the game before the gruelling international season gets underway.

And Middlesex have been hugely supportive and understanding, as is evident from the statement released by Alan Coleman, the Head of Men's Performance Cricket at the club.

The statement read:

"We have thoroughly enjoyed having Shaheen here with us at Lord's for the last month. He has settled into the group really well and has been a real asset for us on the field. It has been a pleasure working with him. Shaheen has played international cricket in all three forms of the game already this year and came to Middlesex off the back of a busy playing schedule, so we are fully understanding and supportive of his request to go home and recharge ahead of him representing his country."

Shaheen will rejoin Middlesex for the Vitality T20 Blast following the culmination of the series against the West Indies.

The Vitality Blast will get underway from May 25

"We look forward to his return in late June, when we hope he will be in a position to make an impactful return to us and help us in our Vitality Blast campaign."

Shaheen claimed 14 wickets in 3 'county championship games @ 25.4 apiece.

Meanwhile, Pakistan will host the West Indies in three ODIs between June 08-12. This series was originally scheduled to take place in December last year but was postponed due to Covid.

All three games will take place in Rawalpindi.