Pakistan's former captain and a member of the cricket board's technical committee, Mohammad Hafeez, has called for supporting skipper Babar Azam and boosting his confidence ahead of next month's World Cup in India. In an interaction with the media on Saturday, Hafeez, referring to the criticism about Babar's captaincy, said the top batter alone could not be blamed for Pakistan's defeats in the Asia Cup.
"Main toh yeh kahunga ki event ke final tak bhi toh hum log hi pahuche the, toh vo kiski wajah se pahuche the? Toh agar final haarne ke upar zimedaar agar kaptaan ko thera rahe hain toh final pahuchne ka jo credit hai vo kaptaan ko kyun nahi dete? Toh ek shaqs ko iske upar mujrim na banaye aur tamaam results k evaluate karein, ki accha hone ki kya wajuhat thi aur bura hone ki kya wajuhat hai. (It is not fair to just blame him for not reaching the Asia Cup final. We are not willing to give credit alone to the captain for reaching a final so why blame him alone for not reaching the Asia Cup final. Cricket is a team game)," Hafeez said.
Thank you for supporting Babar Azam and speaking sense. Thank you for this statement, Mohammad Hafeez
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) September 16, 2023
What a sensible man 🇵🇰 #AsiaCup2023 pic.twitter.com/TiHBzzP1Ke
He said right now the country's cricket fraternity needs to support Babar and his team.
"Toh ziyati taur pe main kisi ke favour mein hu lekin main yeh samjhta hu kyun ki main khud bhi kaptaan raha hu aur maine khud yeh failures chakhe hue hain. Abhi yeh waqt nahi hai yeh saari baat karne ka aur agar Babar humare kaptaan hain World Cup ke liye toh hume unhe bhut pyaar se aur badi duwaon se India bhejna chahiye aur unhe mazeed felicitate karna chahiye ki unke liye kya behtar kar sakte hain. Aur unfortunately agar results acche na aaye toh tab hume sochna chahiye ki hume isi ko continue karna hai ya hume behtar ki zaoorat hai. (Personally, I am not in favour of anybody but being an ex-captain, I have also experienced such failures. I think it's not the right time to talk about such things. If Babar is our captain for the World Cup, then we should all support him and send him to India with lot of love. If unfortunately, the results do not come in our favour, then we need to think strategically that whether we need Babar or do we need someone better.)"
Hafeez who appeared in the 2011 World Cup in India acknowledged it would be a tough challenge for the Pakistan team.
"The problem is many of our players have limited exposure of playing in Indian conditions.
"It is a big challenge for any Pakistani player to play in India in a mega event and also do well, but hopefully, we can count on our players to come through. We shouldn't let the Asia Cup disappointment spoil our optimism or support for the team."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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