The curious case of Mohammad Hafeez

If Hafeez doesn't buck up, Dale Steyn will look forward to the upcoming series against South Africa more than anyone!

Pakistan has had its fair share of all-rounders over the years and Mohammad Hafeez has definitely been one of them.

The 33-year-old, Sargodha born all-rounder entered international cricket as an opening batsman in 2003 when he took two wickets for 41 runs during his ODI debut against Zimbabwe, becoming the winning cause at Sharjah in 2003.

Hafeez was one of the many new talents recruited in the national side after Pakistan was humiliatingly knocked out of the ICC World Cup 2003 in the first round. Under the leadership of Rashid Latif, a relatively new team started its journey with the absence of superstars like Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar.

Ten years down the road, Hafeez is now a senior member of the Pakistan team and also the captain of the national T20 squad. The space which he was intended to fill, in the absence of opening batsmen like Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar still remains an area of concern for Pakistani cricket. Unfortunately, despite having identical bowling actions as those of the great Saqlain Mushtaq, Hafeez has not managed to earn the same level of respect as an off-spinner should have in world cricket.

So what has Hafeez done in the past ten years?

To be fair to the T20 captain, he hasn’t been a permanent member of the Pakistan side throughout these ten years, but then that had a lot to do with him not being able to cement his position through consistent performances.

Presently, Hafeez is the number one all-rounder in ODI ranking and number two on the list of T20 all-rounders. Still, many believe that it is time Pakistan cricket looks elsewhere for options other than the ‘professor’.

It may be because of the fact that Hafeez, over the past one and half years, has not accomplished anything worth writing home about.

As a batsman, he has a career average of 28.62 in ODIs which is not acceptable at all, considering the level of batting other teams presently have. Hafeez averages just 10.2 in the five Tests that he has played in 2013 and has a batting average of 36.52 in the 26 ODIs played this year so far, with an unimpressive bowling average of 43.05. His place in the ODI side is often justified through his ability to bowl.

Let’s look at a couple of other opening batsmen in world cricket who are similar to Hafeez.

Gautam Gambhir also started his career in 2003 and has played a similar number of ODI matches as those of Hafeez. He has a batting average of 39.68 and yet he is out of the Indian national side because Shikhar Dhawan with a striking average of 46.08 is a better choice.

Similarly, Hashim Amla, who has had similar issues of not being able to cement his place in the South African side for a long time, is now a permanent member of the Proteas’ team with an outstanding batting average of 53.34 in ODIs and 52.32 in Tests.

As far as T20 performances are concerned, Hafeez has had a good run as captain apart from the recent T20 series against South Africa, which concluded with Pakistan being on the losing side 2-0.

Hafeez wasn’t able to perform well in the two-match series neither with the bat nor the ball.

There is a clear lack of focus as far as Hafeez is concerned and there is nobody apart from himself who can sort things out. Shuffling up and down the batting order may not be the right solution for the 33-year-old, and may only cause more batting disasters for the Pakistan team and joy for fast bowlers like Dale Steyn.

The professor should stop resting on his past successes and start focusing on the game being played on the field. Surprisingly, Hafeez has been given another chance for the upcoming short series against South Africa. His record versus the South African team overall isn’t very impressive either; with batting averages of 20 and 17 in ODIs and Tests respectively, his nemesis, Dale Steyn must be looking forward to the competition more than anyone else.

All we can do is wish him the very best for the future and hope that he gives his 100% in the days to come.