Published: Nov 13, 2015, 11:00 AM (IST)
Edited: Nov 13, 2015, 12:58 PM (IST)
Mohammad Hafeez has had his share of turbulence in his 12-year-long international career — from captaining the national team, to racking up centuries after centuries, being banned for bowling and dropped abruptly from World Cup squad. Ruled out of bowling owing to a suspect action, Hafeez is now concentrating on his abilities as a batsman, and the past few months has seen a new and improved Hafeez come on the field. Hafeez scored a magnificent hundred against England in the first One-Day International (ODI) at Abu Dhabi chasing a small total of 214. Hafeez’s 102 not out came in 140 balls was well supported by Babar Azam’s run-a-ball 62. Hafeez was the foil in the partnership with Azam making merry. Scorecard: Pakistan vs England 2015, 2nd ODI at Abu Dhabi
Following his recovery from injury after the ICC 2015 World Cup, Hafeez has been in good form scoring 4 centuries across formats. Hafeez scored his 10th hundred in 170th ODI for Pakistan. He has regularly been critiqued for throwing away his wicket after a steady start and not converting his fifties into hundreds. That has changed, and he retains a spot in the side based on batting alone. He is unfazed by the ban on his bowling and continues to make the most of his batting abilities and hopes his action will be cleared in due course of time. READ: Younis Khan retires from ODIs: End of a disappointing career
Make no mistake: Hafeez is no ordinary bowler, and with his bowling still banned he is somewhat handicapped, especially in ODIs, where 77 of his 129 wickets have resulted in Pakistan victories. He is also behind only Imran Khan and Wasim Akram as the third-most economic bowler for Pakistan in ODIs which proves his importance in team as a bowler.
Pakistan have a very young and inexperienced ODI squad, more so following the retirement of Younis Khan, a veteran of 265 ODIs. It is now up to Hafeez to mentor the boys and nurture them into dependable batsmen for Pakistan in times to come. Hafeez. 35, is probably in the final leg of his career, and will want to make his outing on the field count as much as possible for Pakistan. READ: Pakistan announce 16-man squad for T20I series vs England
Also known as “The Professor” in cricketing circles due to him being more of a motor mouth in the dressing room (in a good way), Hafeez is always seen talking, discussing, arguing with teammates, throwing up theories and ideas on how the team and player should function. He will want to play fulcrum to a memorable ODI series against the visiting England side in UAE, contributing with the bat in the coming ODIs. One of Pakistan’s best openers of the 2000s, Mohammad Hafeez has resurfaced in his final hurrah and will surely see to it that he goes on a high with him being the main contributor in his team victories and successes.
(Vishal Mehra is a reporter at CricketCountry, who enjoys his weekly dose of anime as refreshment and plays cricket once a white moon. His twitter handle is @vishal_oxyjinn)
