'Too much mental pressure' - Mohammad Hafeez feels Virat Kohli, Hasan Ali are facing similar problems

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez reckons that Indian star Virat Kohli and Pakistan fast bowler Hasan Ali are facing similar problems. He opined that Kohli had to take too much of “mental pressure”, and like the Indian, Ali also should have been given a break from cricket long ago.

Hafeez said that Kohli is one of the best players in the last decade, and his decision to take time off from cricket was the best one for him. The former Pakistan skipper also feels that Kohli has lacked impact over the last two or three years. He expressed that even his fifty against Pakistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup was “impactless”.

“Virat Kohli is one of the best players of the past 10 years. I think he is also facing the same problem,” said Hafeez on Dawn. “He needed a break because he had too much mental pressure. Their decision to rest Virat for this series was the best decision for him.”

Until you can’t bring an impact, no point in playing: Mohammad Hafeez

“I think Virat Kohli is an impact player. In the past 2-3 years, we saw that the impact wasn’t there. Even when he scored the half-century against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup last year, that was, to me, impactless. Until you can’t bring an impact, there’s no point of you playing,” said the 41-year-old.

Hafeez believes that it was a good decision by the Indian management to allow players to take a break. He also claimed that this would enable the players to get back to becoming impact players again. “Every player requires a break. The Indian board made a good decision. This break will help him get back to becoming an impact player. He had lost his impact,” said the former Pakistani all-rounder.

Kohli this year averages just around 25 with the bat across all formats, which is the lowest in his career in a calendar year. His second lowest ever average of 31.80 came in his debut year 2008. He has also gone over two years without an international century, making it the longest century drought in his international career. He has currently been rested from the ongoing West Indies tour and will rest for the upcoming Zimbabwe tour as well.