Former Pakistan men’s cricket team Director Mohammad Hafeez threw his weight behind the star-studded Pakistan pace bowling attack and instead advised the batting unit to adapt to the modern-day intent.
Hafeez appeared in ARY News’ show Sports Room and commented on Pakistan pacers’ below-par performance in the recently-concluded three-match away series against Ireland.
For the unversed, Ireland chased down 183 with a ball to spare in the series opener and registered a massive total of 193/7 in the second match.
The home side was then curtailed to a modest total of 178/7, courtesy of Shaheen Shah Afridi’s astounding bowling figures of 3/14. However, his fellow pacer Hasan Ali went for aplenty in the same fixture, conceding 42 runs in four overs.
But Mohammad Hafeez insisted that the Pakistan bowlers can not be blamed since the teams have adopted the flair of modern-day batting, in which the national men’s team is left well behind.
“I think, you can’t blame bowlers much because the other teams have adopted the batting intent of the modern-day cricket really well.
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“We are still well behind. And, even if you call Ireland or the inexperienced New Zealand team which toured Pakistan, weak. Their intent was up to the international standard.
“We are still finding the winning formula by being stuck in the older zone. Players remain the same, they don’t change but you evolve with the game.
“So, the game [of cricket] especially batting has evolved worldwide and the [rest of the] world is playing their cricket accordingly.
“I think we are well behind in adapting to such intent or maybe we are afraid of trying that.
“Bowlers conceding runs in today’s cricket, because of innovation, is not a big deal. Every team has developed a different shot range and we are unable to do that. So, I wouldn’t be harsh for the bowlers.”
Mohammad Hafeez then specifically lauded ace pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi for playing a pivotal role in Pakistan’s recent triumphs against New Zealand and Ireland but insisted that the national side need to step up their attitude.
“The two matches we won against New Zealand and here [against Ireland] were because of Shaheen’s good bowling. So, I think, we need to step up in terms of bowling attitude and execution but still, if we don’t improvise our batting intent then we can’t criticize our bowling.”
READ: Mohammad Hafeez thinks Pakistan “will struggle” in T20 World Cup 2024