Team decisions can’t be taken on someone’s tweet, Mohammad Hafeez reacts to Indo-Pak toss row

He is the seniormost player in the current Pakistan squad which is battling it out at the Cricket World Cup 2019. Mohammad Hafeez had quite a roller-coaster ride till he made it to the squad and amid the batting ruins, the 38-year-old has been his team’s second highest scorer in the tournament so far, just after Babar Azam. Days after Pakistan lost their derby against India at the World Cup and the team has been made to go through hell, the batting all-rounder has spoken up.

On Thursday, Hafeez interacted with the media ahead of his team’s do-or-die game against South Africa at Lord’s on Sunday. It was here that his team had won the Champions Trophy final in 2017 and would eye to repeat the same against the Proteas, who too are gasping for breath. Hafeez touched on various issues including the controversy over captain Sarfaraz Ahmed not heeding to the advice tweeted by Prime Minister Imran Khan about winning the toss and electing to bat.

Sarfaraz did just the opposite after the coin ended up in his favour. His game plan was to expose the Indian batsmen to pace bowling under overcast conditions but his decision backfired big time. Rohit Sharma’s majestic 140 and captain Virat Kohli’s 77 took India to 336 for 5 and they restricted Pakistan to 212 for 6 in 40 overs to win by 89 runs via DLS rule.

Pakistan lost because they didn’t bowl well, feels Hafeez

Speaking on the toss row, Hafeez said opting to bowl first after winning the toss in the match was a collective decision taken by the team. “Team’s decision can’t be made on what someone has tweeted. It was the team’s decision. We didn’t bowl well and that’s why we lost that game,” he said.

Former players like Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram blasted the team for having opted to bowl first and eventually lose the match. It was for the first time in the history of India-Pakistan clashes at the World Cup that a side had won the toss and elected to bowl. Also, only one match has been won by the team batting second in an India-Pakistan game at the World Cup and it was the game at Centurion in 2003, thanks to Sachin Tendulkar’s 75-ball 98.

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Hafeez also said that the last few days have been too painful for him and the entire side because of the severe criticism they have faced after the poor show in the tournament.

Pakistan have managed to win just one of their five games so far and are languishing at No.9 in the table, just above a winless Afghanistan.