Pakistan players frustrated over team director Mohammed Hafeez's 'long and repetitive lectures' in meetings - Reports
Newly appointed Pakistan team director Mohammed Hafeez is yet to win over the team in his maiden coaching stint, with the players reportedly unhappy with his approach so far.
The former skipper was appointed as the team director, and he also holds the responsibility of head coach after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) opted not to appoint separate candidates for the roles. Hafeez's arrival saw the culmination of Mickey Arthur and Grant Bradburn's reign within the coaching staff.
Hafeez's maiden assignment as team director of Pakistan was a challenging tour of Australia, with Shan Masood also leading the team for the first time after Babar Azam's resignation. The Men in Green ended up losing the series 0-3 but were praised for their performances in patches, especially in Melbourne during the Boxing Day Test. The emergence of Aamer Jamal and Saim Ayub also comes across as yet another positive.
However, the former skipper is yet to leave a mark as the team director. Reports in Pakistan state that the players are not happy with the long meetings, where repetitive information is being fed.
"He holds very long meetings and gives long lectures and some of the players get restless because same things are repeated," one media report said.
Pakistan are currently involved in an away T20I series against New Zealand under Shaheen Afridi. The tour is not going to plan, with the Men in Green already trailing 0-2 with three matches remaining in the series.
Mohammad Hafeez has already taken several radical decisions since taking up the team director post
Mohammed Hafeez's reign as Pakistan coach might not have got off to the perfect start, but he is hell-bent on changing the culture in terms of discipline as well as approach.
The former player introduced a rule of players being fined 500 dollars if they were caught sleeping in the dressing room. Apart from that, he also signed off on the decision to drop Imam-ul-Haq during the Test series in Australia, allowing Saim Ayub to come into the fold.
He also played a huge hand in the decision to demote Babar Azam in the T20I batting order. Desiring more aggression at the top, Pakistan have a new opening combination in Saim Ayub and Mohammad Rizwan, with Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman batting at No.3 and No.4 respectively.