End of Mohammad Hafeez’s Tenure as Director of Pakistan Men’s Cricket Team

Mohammad Hafeez’s term as the Director of the Pakistan Men’s Cricket Team has come to an end, following a less than satisfactory performance at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. The team failed to reach the semi-finals, securing only four victories, which led to significant changes in the leadership of Pakistan cricket.

Post the resignation of Babar Azam from captaincy, the leadership reins were handed over to Shan Masood and Shaheen Afridi for the Test and T20I formats respectively.

The Pakistan Cricket Board expressed its deep appreciation for Mohammad Hafeez’s contributions as the Director of the Pakistan men’s cricket team. Hafeez’s dedication to the sport has been a source of inspiration for the players, and his guidance during the tours of Australia and New Zealand has been invaluable.

Former Director of the Men’s cricket side, Mickey Arthur, along with ex-head coach Grant Bradburn, and former Batting coach Andrew Puttick, were reassigned to the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. However, they later resigned from their respective positions.

In another significant development, Haris Rauf’s central contract was terminated. This action followed a PCB investigation into Rauf’s refusal to join the Pakistan Test squad for the recently concluded Australia tour.

Mohammad Hafeez was entrusted with the responsibility owing to his extensive cricketing career. The all-rounder represented Pakistan in 55 Tests, 218 ODIs, and 119 T20Is, amassing a total of 12,780 runs and claiming 253 wickets.

However, Pakistan’s performance in Australia was disappointing. Despite occasional flashes of brilliance, Pakistan lost the three-match Test series 3-0. Their performance in the five-match T20I series in New Zealand was equally disappointing, with the team losing 4-1.