With form – and talent – not enabling him to make giant strides towards stardom, Pakistan’s under-performing all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has opted to wait for a lucky break to make his mark in the ongoing World Cup.
Hafeez scored his maiden One-Day International (ODI) century in January against New Zealand, almost eight years after making his debut, and questions are still asked of his ability to be part of Pakistan’s playing eleven.
“I’ve not been making any mistakes but to perform, you need luck as well,” said Hafeez on the eve of Pakistan’s fourth match of the World Cup, in Kandy against New Zealand. “As far as consistency is concerned, I’ve done pretty well in the last three series – against England, South Africa and New Zealand – but been unlucky here in the World Cup.
“There was a run out, a bad decision but hopefully things will change if I get a bit of luck on my side.”
Hafeez has scored just 52 runs in this World Cup so far with a highest of 32. His bowling, too, has been off the mark with just two wickets to show from his efforts. While Pakistan have crossed the 250-run mark in two out of the three matches, a decent opening stand has been lacking with 28 being the highest that Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad have put on so far.
“We haven’t got big starts but the confidence level is still high. We’re working hard and all we need is one big partnership and things will fall back in place as soon as that happens.
“Our middle-order has been performing outstandingly so all we need now is for the openers to click.”
Hafeez, however, will go into today’s match hoping history plays its part and the fond memories of Christchurch are found lurking around in the Kandy heat.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2011.
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