Although Pakistan has lost the last 14 Test matches played in Australia, Mohammad Hafeez, the new director of the Pakistan cricket team, voiced optimism about the difficult three-Test journey.
Muhammad Hafeez, who hasn’t played a Test match in Australia, is the team director and acting head coach. He pushes the side to play a more contemporary and aggressive brand of cricket. Rather than seeing the current losing streak as a hardship, he sees it as an opportunity.
“You’re winning when your challenge excite you, when there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.” Our collective objective is to accomplish our goals as a team, not to follow the path of history. The attitude is pretty clear: working together, we can achieve greater outcomes. We have an exciting task ahead of us. I can’t speak about the past, but hopefully, things will become better for Pakistan going forward,” Muhammad Hafeez stated, as cited by ESPN Cricinfo.
Muhammad Hafeez is unfazed by difficulties, like having a new captain, not having a formal head coach, and worries about the bowling attack. He thinks the chosen bowling unit is capable of producing successful games.
“The bowling unit of this team has good bowlers; the best bowlers in the Pakistani system have been chosen.” I have very strong confidence that the bowling lineup we have can produce winning performances there. You are in the running for the win when you take 20 wickets. I believe our bowling has the ability to do that,” he continued.
We refuse to play in the same manner as any other team: Muhammad Hafeez
Despite recent disappointments in competitions, Hafeez emphasizes Pakistan’s triumphant Test assignment against Sri Lanka. He says that the batting order is playing well and that he expects Babar Azam to play a little bit better now that he is not the captain.
Every squad has a winning motto and approach. We have to come up with our own plan for how we are going to win instead of playing the way another team plays. Aggressive cricket has always been the hallmark of Pakistan’s success. That sends a very obvious message to every player: we expect them to play aggressively. We want to have a distinct own style; we won’t adopt someone else’s.”
Muhammad Hafeez emphasizes how critical it is to adopt an aggressive mindset and embrace modern cricket. He thinks Pakistan will be able to play modern cricket by starting with this technique.
“Modern-day cricket is not a pill that you swallow and you suddenly start playing it,” he stated. “It’s a mindset that wants you to play with dominance, to always be one step ahead of the opposition, and to put on memorable performances. At this level, everyone performs, but unless it has an impact, it is meaningless. We must go past our comfort zones in order to accomplish group objectives and make a difference. Hopefully, you will witness Pakistani cricket begin to play modern cricket,” he said in closing.
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