LAHORE: The Director of the Pakistan men’s cricket team Mohammad Hafeez has stated that former captain Babar Azam will flourish as a batter and perform at his best without the pressure of captaincy.

Mohammad Hafeez, who recently replaced Mickey Arthur as The Director of the Pakistan team, shared his views during a press conference ahead of Pakistan’s tour of Australia.

“Babar Azam’s services as a batter for Pakistan cannot be forgotten. However, not being captain will release pressure on him and help him flourish his game solely as a batter,” said Hafeez.

“Captaincy definitely adds pressure onto a cricketer. Babar Azam has already been making excellent contributions to Pakistan cricket, and I think he will further enhance his performance to help Pakistan achieve success,” he further added.

Hafeez also clarified that Babar Azam has a good relationship with other team-mates and newly appointed Test captain Shan Masood, which will help the team perform as a unit against Australia.

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He further opened up about his role as director of the national team.

“The role of the team director is to give the plan to the team. I want us to play modern-day cricket, which we have been lacking,” added Hafeez.

“The mindset of the team is clear, and we will try to bring better results together.”

Pakistan is scheduled to play a three-match Test series against Australia commencing from 14 December 2023 to 7 January 2024.

The team will depart from Lahore on 30 November and will kick off the Test series with the first Test in Perth from 14-18 December 2023.

Pakistan squad for the tour of Australia

Shan Masood (c), Aamir 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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