Mohammad Hafeez: “We have two players, Imad and Amir, who have not played domestic cricket for many years, they were brought back in the team”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan team director and interim head coach Mohammad Hafeez expressed his frustration at the fact that left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir and spinner Imad Wasim were able to return to the national team without playing any domestic cricket.
Both Amir and Imad reversed their decisions to retire from international cricket recently and subsequently featured in Pakistan’s five-match T20I series against New Zealand.
Amir took three wickets in four games at an average of 28.66 and an economy rate of 8.32, while Imad claimed one wicket in two matches at an average of 37 and an economy rate of 7.40.
While there was a lot of excitement about their comebacks, Hafeez felt it was extremely unfair to cricketers who are trying to earn their spot in the national team by performing well in domestic cricket.
“We have two players, Imad and Amir, who have not played domestic cricket for many years, they were brought back in the team. Amir hasn’t played domestic cricket for 3-4 years, and he had taken retirement, however he was also brought back,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
“Imad Wasim, who hasn’t played domestic cricket and was sitting on TV, he said that he didn’t want to play cricket for Pakistan because when I talked to him, he had some objections and in his opinion, he was hard done by the last management because he didn’t get fair chances. So when I talked to him and told him that whatever has happened has happened, we will look after you going forward, you play for Pakistan, he said no, he wants to play leagues, but he was brought back.”
The T20I series between Pakistan and New Zealand concluded as 2-2 draw.
Next up for Pakistan will be a three-match T20I series against Ireland from May 10 to 14.
After that, they will play four T20Is against England from May 22 to May 30.
Pakistan Squad for Ireland and England T20I Series: Babar Azam (capt), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan