Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are excellent players, but they do not represent the entire squad and cannot bear the entire burden of the team, according to former Pakistan all-rounder and team director Mohammad Hafeez.
In an exclusive interview with local media, Hafeez discussed his opinions on the most recent selection procedure, the team’s dependence on the Babar-Rizwan combination, the granting of NOCs to players so they may participate in leagues, and his assessment of the Green Shirts’ strength in front of the T20 World Cup.
When Hafeez was director of the Pakistan men’s cricket team, he was criticized for not being a highly trained coach.
He said, “The PCB has the slave mentality that the only coach who should be hired is a foreigner.” No local coach that I have ever seen has ever encouraged nepotism or personal endorsements.
During Hafeez’s time as team director, the starting combination of Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan in Twenty20 was disrupted.
Despite being excellent players, Babar and Rizwan do not speak for the entire Pakistani squad. It is not possible for Babar and Rizwan to carry all of the team’s responsibilities. As an opener, I thought Saim Ayub was the answer for us. If I was mistaken, why has the present team management kept Saim as an opener?”
Giving further details on his thoughts on the batting order, he said, “Babar has been batting at number three for the past seven or eight years. Babar’s position at number three in the T20 batting order won’t change. Pakistan will have a formidable top order with openers Rizwan and Saim, followed at number three by Babar and Fakhar.”
