Groupings In Pakistan Team? Mohammad Hafeez Responds

Veteran Pakistan batsman Mohammad Hafeez has rubbished reports suggesting that their are groupings within the team. The rumours surfaced in the wake of Pakistan’s dismal performance during the defeat to India on June 16. Pakistan looked abysmal with both bat and ball as India thrashed them by 89 runs.

The Men in Green are staring down the barrel after managing just 3 points from five games. Their latest defeat came against arch-rivals India. Asked to bat first, India piled up a mammoth total of 336 for 5. Rohit Sharma starred with the bat, scoring 140 while KL Rahul and Virat Kohli scored 57 and 77 respectively.

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In reply, Pakistan failed to provide any sort of challenge to their formidable opponents. Barring the 104-run stand between Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam, they never really looked in contention to chase down the total. They eventually finished on 212 for 6 in 40 overs, thus losing the game by 89 runs (DLS method).

Following the defeat, reports suggested that all was not well within the team. The reports claimed that were groups in the team and players wanted to topple their under-pressure skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed. Mohammad Hafeez, however, has dismissed those rumours, saying that the team is united.

“whenever we lose, these stories of groupings start. We beat England there were no stories of groupings, we lose to India & these stories of groupings in the squad start. We are one, we are united, we are all Pakistanis, we all care about each other,” said Mohammad Hafeez.

“All these stories of trouble within the squad are rubbish. The reality is that we simply have not played well enough as a team & all the players need to take responsibility for this,” he added.

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Time is running out for Pakistan in the ongoing World Cup. With just one win from their first five games, the reigning Champions Trophy holder now need to all of their remaining four games to keep their semifinal hopes alive. But even if they do so, they are likely to have to depend on other results to make it to the semifinal.