"You have killed your domestic cricket" - Mohammad Hafeez reveals the reason behind his viral tweet after Pakistan T20I squad announcement vs NZ
Former Pakistan men's team's director Mohammad Hafeez has revealed the reason behind tweeting 'RIP Pakistan domestic cricket' after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the T20I squad to face New Zealand. Hafeez opined that the selection decisions rendered domestic cricket completely futile.
The PCB gave a maiden call-up to Usman Khan, who finished PSL 9 as the second-highest run-getter. With Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir delivering encouraging performances in PSL 9 and reversing their retirement, the board also recalled them for the five-game series.
Speaking to Cricket Pakistan, Hafeez underlined that adding a player to the squad, who is not part of the domestic circuit, looks demotivating to the cricketers who are already working hard.
"I have great respect for Usman Khan's talent, but he is not part of Pakistan's system. How will you motivate thousands of cricketers in the domestic circuit who work day and night and play domestic cricket when your selection criteria is not based on domestic cricket performance? That's why I tweeted that after the inclusion of these three players, you have killed your domestic cricket."
Pakistan cricket also underwent an upheaval on the captaincy front as Shaheen Shah Afridi faced sacking after leading the national team in only one series. Instead, the PCB reinstated Babar Azam, who stepped down from the role in November 2023, for the white-ball format.
"Amir hasn't played domestic cricket for 3-4 years" - Mohammad Hafeez
Hafeez further commented that it hardly made sense to recall players who hadn't played at the international level for a few years and who wasn't open to featuring some time back. On this, the 43-year-old added:
"We have two players, Imad and Amir, who have not played domestic cricket for many years, they were brought back in the team. Amir hasn't played domestic cricket for 3-4 years, and he had taken retirement, however he was also brought back.
"Imad Wasim, who hasn't played domestic cricket and was sitting on TV, he said that he didn't want to play cricket for Pakistan because when I talked to him, he had some objections and in his opinion, he was hard done by the last management because he didn't get fair chances."
Pakistan also have a T20I series against England and Ireland before the T20 World Cup 2024 in June.