Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez, who recently stepped down as the team director of Pakistan, has made a startling revelation about his predecessors Mickey Arthur and Babar Azam.
The former allrounder was appointed as the team director by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in November in the aftermath of the team’s poor show at the ODI World Cup. Pakistan failed to progress ahead of the league stage after managing just 4 wins in 9 games.
Soon after the campaign ended, Babar Azam stepped down as the captain in all three formats while the likes of Grant Bradburn, Arthur, and Morne Morkel were sacked from the backroom staff too. Mohammad Hafeez replaced Arthur as the team director and also served as the interim head coach during the tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Mohammad Hafeez exposes Babar and Arthur:
Mohammad Hafeez’s first assignment as the team director was the tour of Australia where Pakistan played three Tests. The former cricketer revealed that he told the players straightaway to work on their fitness. He further revealed how the fitness trainer was told by Babar and Arthur to stop checking the fitness of the players and let them play freely.
“When we went to Australia, I told the players to take care of their fitness levels. I also asked the trainer about the fitness of the players. He told me a shocking thing that six months ago captain (Babar Azam) and Director of Cricket (Mickey Arthur) told me to stop checking the players on the fitness parameters and let them play the way they want.
“When the fat levels of the players were checked, the skin fold of all of them was high. They were unfit and some of them couldn’t complete a 2 KM trial. The decision taken 6 months back overruled the set criteria for fitness. You will suffer defeats if the fitness is like that,” Mohammad Hafeez said on A Sports.
Mohammad Hafeez reveals a shocking fact, how 6 months ago captain Babar Azam along with coaching panel had told team fitness trainer, fitness isn't the priority at the moment just let the boys play how they want to pic.twitter.com/yaq2iE7vto
— Ghumman (@emclub77) February 20, 2024
Pakistan struggled on both tours and ended up suffering a crushing loss. In Australia, they lost all three Tests before losing the T20I series in New Zealand 1-4. Meanwhile, Hafeez recently announced that he would step down as the team director of the Pakistan team. The PCB is yet to announce his replacement.
