LAHORE: Former Test captain Mohammad Hafeez has expressed gratitude to the Chairman PCB Management Committee Zaka Ashraf for appointing him as Team Director Pakistan Men’s Team.
Hafeez, who has also served as member of the Cricket Technical Committee in Zaka Ashraf’s management committee, said, “I am honoured and excited to take on the role of Team Director for the Pakistan Men’s Cricket Team. I would like to thank PCB for trusting my abilities and giving me this challenging responsibility, but I am committed to work collaboratively with the coaching staff and players to contribute in team’s success. Together we will strive for excellence and bring happiness for our passionate fans.”
Mohammad Hafeez has featured for Pakistan in 55 Tests, 218 ODIs and 119 T20Is and has scored 12,780 runs and has taken 253 wickets. Hafeez was recently part of the PCB Cricket Technical Committee. The former all-rounder was part of Pakistan Men’s team which won the ICC Champions Trophy in England in 2017.
The PCB has changed the portfolio of the Pakistan coaching staff. All coaches will continue to work in National Cricket Academy while PCB will announce the new coaching staff in due course for the upcoming series in Australia and New Zealand.
It may be noted that the PCB after Team Pakistan debacle in World Cup has appointed Shan Masood as the Test captain of Pakistan Men’s Cricket Team, while Shaheen Shah Afridi has been named T20I captain.
The 34-year-old Shan has featured in 30 Tests, scoring 1,597 runs, which includes four centuries and seven half-centuries. Shan has been appointed captain till the end of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25. Shan’s first assignment as captain will be a three-match Test series against Australia in Australia starting from 14th December.
Meanwhile, left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah will lead Pakistan Men’s Team in the T20I format and his first assignment as captain will be the five-match T20I series in New Zealand from 12 to 21 January. 23-year-old Shaheen has bagged 64 wickets in 52 T20Is. Shaheen has also captained Lahore Qalandars in HBL PSL and has helped the side win the tournament twice in two years in the 2022 and 2023 editions.
Shan and Shaheen were appointed captains after Babar Azam stepped down from all three formats of the game. Pakistan’s captain in the ODI format will be announced in due course.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023