Mohammad Hafeez has opened up after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decided to part ways with him. The former international player was assigned the role of Pakistan cricket team director after the side's poor show in the men's Cricket World Cup 2023. Hafeez was handed the duty following a successful cricketing career but the board decided to "cut short" his stint which was intially decided to be of four years. While sending his best wishes to the Pakistan cricket team in a social media post on Friday, Hafeez also said that he will also reveal the non-cricketing reasons that led to the side's poor show.
"I always prioritise and represented Pakistan with dignity and pride. I accepted the new role as a Director PCB with great passion to make positive reforms but unfortunately my designated tenure which was offered by Pakistan Cricket Board for 4 years was cut short for 2 months on the account of new chairmanship. Best wishes for Pakistan cricket future. As always, I foremost take responsibility and put myself accountable for all my executions in my given time and will accordingly reveal all the cricketing and other amateur non cricketing facts which ensue bad performances. Stay tuned...," wrote Hafeez on X.
Hafeez was appointed as director of Pakistan men's cricket team as the side failed to make it to the semifinals of Cricket World Cup 2023 and finished with just four wins. This saw several changes in the Pakistan leadership setup.
After Babar Azam resigned from captaincy, Shan Masood and Shaheen Afridi were given leadership roles in the Test and T20I formats respectively.
Mickey Arthur, the previous director of men's cricket, Grant Bradburn, the former head coach, and Andrew Puttick, the former batting coach were sent to the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. Later, the trio resigned from their respective positions.
Another significant change in the Pakistan arrangement was the termination of Haris Rauf's central contract. He was penalized after the PCB investigated his reluctance to join Pakistan's Test team for the just finished Australia tour.
Pakistan, on the other hand, had a disappointing performance in Australia. Despite moments of brilliance, Pakistan lost the three-game Test series 3-0. Their performance in the five-game T20I series in New Zealand was no better, as the team fell 4-1.
(With ANI Inputs)