"Assalam Alaikum friends, this video is especially for my all fans and I want to thank them for their support in my whole career they have always been my strength and they important to me as my family is," he said in a video statement, shared on Twitter.

Afridi's last over on Saturday's match had brought the team back into the game as the all-rounder took two wickets and the team got in form batter Alex Hales got run out. He also ran out Azam Khan, who had hit him huge sixes in the previous fixture, for a nought with a direct hit from mid-wicket as his inspirational burst brought the Gaddafi Stadium crowd to its feet.

The former Pakistan cricketer added that he was trying to end the PSL on a "good note". The lower back injury was very old, he said, adding that from the last 15-16 years he had been playing with such an injury.

Player of the match and skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who took his side home with an unbeaten 50-run contribution, had also praised Afridi in his speech after the match. Quetta Gladiators had delivered a second successive 200-plus chase as they defeated Islamabad United by five wickets in the last over thriller at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore in the 18th fixture of the HBL PSL 7 on Saturday night.

"The injury has now grown to a level where it pains me in my groin, knee and foot fingers. And I have been playing with this pain. Health is wealth," Afridi said, adding that the Kashmir Premier League would start after the HBL PSL. He reiterated to end the T20 league on a good note.

"I have lost the courage to endure more pain," the Quetta Gladiators all-rounder said and thanked the team's owner Nadeem Omar for supporting him in "all matters" and offered apologies for not playing the complete edition of the league's seventh season.

Afridi thanked his fans, saying that he was playing his last PSL for them. He announced his decision to go into rehab, which will take two to three months, and make himself fit for the KPL and T10 league.

He expressed his hope to again play in other cricket leagues.

Quetta Gladiators had also shared Afridi's video statement with a caption: "We don’t have a caption for this".