Mohammad Hafeez, a former captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team and one of Sarfaraz Ahmed’s troops, winning the 2017 Champions Trophy final against India at The Oval on June 18, 2017, wants the PCB to part ways with joint pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf, as this has been a recurrent feature throughout the years. It has been a while since they were first-choice pacers for Pakistan. But they have scarcely passed through a World Cup without letting down the Men in Green on more than one occasion.
In their Champions Trophy 2025 opener against New Zealand at National Stadium in Karachi on February 19, they gave away over 200 runs, and in a must-win match against India in Dubai on Sunday, they couldn’t defend the target of 242 runs. Not that 241 runs were going to be easy-going for the Pakistani team, but the way Shaheen, Rauf, and Naseem bowled on Sunday allowed the Indian batters to settle down before they went on to play their shots freely.
Hafeez, who was talking during PTV’s coverage of the Champions Trophy, exploded with anger at how the star pace trio failed, saying: “Asia Cup started in 2023, we were expecting this trio—Shaheen, Naseem, and Haris—would deliver trophies to us: unsuccessful. 2023 50-over World Cup, doom. 2022 T20 tournament in Melbourne, doom. This ICC Champions Trophy, failure.”
“And it is high time for the purpose. When anyone retails those guys, according to many, they do seem to possess some skills, but that skills isn’t beholding with in needing to somehow come up with the answer that have had given to the court or tribunal that God knows- ‘And let’s move on from that’. ‘Let’s bring in other players’. Let’s move with Mohammad Ali, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Wasim Jr., Akif Javed, and Mir Hamza. These guys are very much in line for their chances. Let’s see what they can do. They are also Pakistanis, and they also have the Pakistani passport.
He also ripped up his former teammate and star Pakistani batter Babar Azam. Babar has consistently let down in his performance at the highest level versus India.
“Similarly, Babar Azam. Babar Azam is considered to be the best player for Pakistan. I accepted that. He is not Inzamam-ul-Haq. Inzamam bhai won matches against all strong opponents. Babar Azam has never won a match against India until today. He has been playing cricket for ten years now. He has never received the Man of the Series in SENA nations. Leave alone the scenario where Pakistan gets defeated. You have to be the Man of the Series. Never have he. Never did he chase down a one-day match in Australia. He has never been the Man of the Series in England.
We have to realize that people who have come into the limelight usually for letting us win are not the people who are bringing that performance.”
“Abhi PSL aayega, saare dobara hero zinda ho jayenge. Hume international stars chahiye, PSL ke ishtihari superstar humne bade dekh liye, hume international tournament jitwane wale players chahiye, let’s try some different people,” he added.
