Mohammad Hafeez: “When he’s called a great Pakistan player, then I have doubts over it. Those who say that probably haven’t seen greats of the game – from Pakistan and around the world. Yes, he is a very, very good player. He is not great yet”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Newly-appointed Pakistan team director Mohammad Hafeez said he has “doubts” about whether former captain Babar Azam is a great player.
Azam has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer in all three formats over the past few years, which has earned him the reputation of being one of the best batsmen in the world.
However, while Hafeez admitted that the 29-year-old from Lahore is “very, very good”, he stopped short of classifying him as great since he still has a lot to prove.
“When he’s called a great Pakistan player, then I have doubts over it. Those who say that probably haven’t seen greats of the game – from Pakistan and around the world. Yes, he is a very, very good player. He is not great yet. He has to prove a lot of right things – and there are stages yet to come in his career,” he told PTV Sports as quoted by NDTV.
“We are putting a tag on him before he’s reached those stages. That’s pressure on him, and when he’s not able to perform in big tournaments, the load of expectations is so high, that people then deal [with] it in a wrong way.”
Azam resigned as captain following Pakistan’s elimination from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he amassed 320 runs in nine matches, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
The men in green started with wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before stumbling against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, it was not enough to earn them a spot in the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, Pakistan lost their final group stage game against England by 93 runs.
Azam will now feature in Pakistan’s upcoming three-match Test series against Australia, which will begin on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi
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