Mohammad Hafeez: “You are in the team because of your talent, but you need to respond in case of fitness. You are the only one in the team on whom we have compromised on the grounds of fitness”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan team director Mohammad Hafeez has admitted that fitness standards were compromised in order to select wicketkeeper-batsman Azam Khan.
Azam hasn’t been able to score runs consistently for the men in green, having amassed 88 runs in 14 T20Is at an average of 8.80 and a strike-rate of 133.33.
Hafeez conceded that it is incredibly frustrating the gamble hasn’t paid off as he has seen no improvement in the 25-year-old’s fitness and performance.
“You are in the team because of your talent, but you need to respond in case of fitness. You are the only one in the team on whom we have compromised on the grounds of fitness,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently represented Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and was dismissed for a golden duck against the United States of America, which was the only match he featured in.
The men in green lost to the United States of America and India before fighting back to beat Canada and Ireland.
Despite ending the group stage on a high, Pakistan failed to advance to the Super Eights.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
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