Pakistan Twenty20 skipper Muhammad Hafeez has animatedly defended everyone in the Pakistan set-up, specifically the coach Dav Whatmore with even more gusto than he celebrated their victory. "It was unfair. If the results of one format do not come in your favour, it does not mean the boys are not working hard or the coach is not good enough," he said in a post- match press conference on Sunday after Pakistan blasted South Africa by 95 runs in the one-off T20 match at Centurion.
"Those are all premature statements from people sitting I don't know where," he said according to a report carried by cricinfo.com. "And it does not mean that if we win the coach is working harder. He was working the same way with us throughout. We are all behind him and we've all been working hard."
Hafeez's comments were an obvious rebuttal of former captain Moin Khan's call for Whatmore to be sacked. Moin called Whatmore "overrated" and said he was "fighting for survival." Hafeez scoffed at all of that. Instead, he said his team had simply shown what he always knew they were capable of. He also asked for people to remain patient with them because of the difficulties of their circumstances, which includes not playing at home "for the last four years but still doing good things for Pakistan cricket."
"A trophy from South Africa is one of those achievements. Even though it came from a format that is brushed aside as a small boys' game and a contest in which one match was washed out, it means something. "We really wanted to do something good in this format because of the ODIs coming up. We knew the importance of this game," Hafeez said. "Tests require a different discipline but here everyone just played without fear."
Hafeez led by example in that regard. His 86 was a fluent innings, punctuated with classy strokes and calculated risk-taking. After a lean Test series, it would go a long way to boost his confidence. "I knew that I was playing very well in the nets, it's just that I was getting good balls in the Test series and that was disappointing," he said.
"But I stayed positive, the coaches kept me positive and worked hard with me." "I always prefer to come as an opener but this is the requirement of the team. We are looking to the future and Ahmed Shehzad has been doing well domestically and we wanted to give him a chance. I will do whatever I have to for the team."
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