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Mohammed Hafeez took a sly dig at the Pakistan team management for sending Fakhar Zaman at number four despite the player being injured and in pain.
Fakhar Zaman will not be a part of the remainder of Pakistan’s Champions Trophy campaign. (Image: AP)
Mohammed Hafeez slammed the Pakistan team management for risking Fakhar Zaman in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 opener against New Zealand despite not having fully recovered. The move has now resulted in the star opening batter being ruled out of the tournament.
The 34-year-old sustained a knee injury in the first over of the match which saw him being out of action for a considerable period of time in the first innings. This also meant that Pakistan had to rejig their batting order with Fakhar coming in at four.
Hafeez criticised the move to send him out at four considering that the player was still in pain and struggled to run between the wickets.
“You give the Champions Trophy to the guy who sent Fakhar to bat at No. 4. He couldn’t run properly. It was a long match, and he was in pain. You can’t expect him to just stand there and hit every ball out of the park. He was struggling with running between the wickets, which added more pressure on Babar Azam,” Hafeez said on PTV Sports.
In addition, the former cricketer also slammed Babar Azam’s approach and lack of intent with the bat. His slow-paced innings meant that the scoring-rate kept increasing, giving New Zealand the victory eventually.
“Babar is a top player. He has nearly 18,000 to 20,000 international runs, but what was his intent today?” Hafeez questioned. “He scored a fifty and seemed satisfied, but Pakistan lost the game. If his knock had taken the game forward, then it would have been valuable. Instead, his half-century cost Pakistan the match. Why didn’t we start batting with that intent in the powerplay?” he added.
With Fakhar Zaman now being officially ruled out, Pakistan have now lost two star batters. Earlier Saim Ayub had been ruled out due to injury and his replacement, Fakhar has now been ruled. Pakistan will face India in their next group-stage match and it will be a must-win game for the defending champions.
Pakistan will have to play out of their skins against a well-oiled machine in India and it remains to be seen if Rizwan and Co can muster up a fight.
