Mohammad Hafeez: “I have never seen a stylish batter with such a beautiful technique like Abdullah Shafique in my career. He can make the records for Pakistan in the future”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Newly-appointed Pakistan team director Mohammad Hafeez has backed opener Abdullah Shafique to break many records in the future.
He added that he has “never seen a stylish batter with such a beautiful technique” like the 24-year-old from Sialkot.
Hafeez’s comments come after Shafique was one of Pakistan’s standout performers in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he went from being a back-up opener to one of the team’s top run-scorers.
In the eight games he played, Shafique amassed 336 runs, which included a century and three fifties, at an average of 42.
“I have never seen a stylish batter with such a beautiful technique like Abdullah Shafique in my career. He can make the records for Pakistan in the future,” Hafeez was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan started their campaign with back-to-back wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before faltering against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to triumph over Bangladesh and New Zealand, they couldn’t book their spot in the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, the men in green lost their final group stage game against England by 93 runs.
Shafique will now represent Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia, which begins 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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One of the rare and reliable opener in Pakistan team.He surely is an asset.