Mohammad Hafeez’s place in danger

Pakistan Twenty20 skipper Mohammad Hafeez will be lucky to play second Test against Sri Lanka, as his place is at stake following a terrible performance with the bat. The all-rounder also captained the side in the opening Test against the islanders, but
was completely unimpressive.

Sources in the side revealed that even though Dav Whatmore is supporting the newly-appointed T20 skipper, there are some voices against him because of the poor batting form.

"When Misbah was banned for slow over-rate after the first Test there was some debate on whether Hafeez was in form to lead the side but since Younis Khan was also struggling with the bat eventually he got the job but failed to impress. There are minor issues
creeping up and there is some disgruntled players around," a source said.

Many former players are also expressing concerns over Hafeez’s place in the Test and One Day International side. Aamir Sohail said that he is not in favour of changing the T20 skipper, but Hafeez needs to make some adjustments to his technique in order to
come out of the lean patch.

“He is not playing on the backfoot as much as he should and that is why he is getting out cheaply so frequently. Once he makes this minor adjustment to his footwork he can score again. I am surprised that no one in the coaching staff has yet been able to
clear this minor problem in Hafeez’s footwork,” he said.

On the other hand, Pakistan team manager Naved Cheema has dismissed the notion that there is something wrong in the camp, adding that the players are determined to bounce back and do well in remainder of the Test series.

"There are no problems or infighting in the team. Just because we lost the Test does not mean such reports are true. The players are in good spirits and can fightback in the Test series. It is a credit that way they took the bad decisions. I have no intention
of reporting anyone nor have I reported anyone to the board," he stated ahead of the second Test.

Hafeez was recently given the reins following Misbah-ul-Haq’s decision to leave the leadership responsibilities in the shortest version of the game.

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Jun 28 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry