The Pakistan cricket team's management’s decision to rest Shaheen Afridi for the third and final Test against Australia in Sydney drew strong criticism from legends Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
Pakistan suffered an 8-wicket defeat in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), as Australia whitewashed the tourists in a three-match Test series on Saturday, January 6.
After Pakistan suffered a 0-3 whitewash in Australia, Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan's director of cricket, reiterated that the decision to rest Shaheen was not for the upcoming T20Is against New Zealand.
Speaking to the media in Sydney, Hafeez stressed that the decision to rest Shaheen for the third Test was made by the team management, not the fast bowler. He also emphasized that the call was made to manage Shaheen's workload, even though Pakistan was trailing 0-2 in the Test series in Australia.
Mohammad Hafeez told media at the SCG: “He bowled really well in those two games and bowled the most of any bowler. When I asked him before the third Test, his body was sore. And I need to look after him more than anything. If someone thinks their body is sore and they can't deliver the best, we need to look after the career of the individual.”
The team director continued, “I will never make a decision where a player can lose his career for six months or a year. It was a tough call but we made that decision for the betterment of the players. Because we cannot make that decision at the cost of a player's career. The second thing about our connecting series – because he is the captain.
It would have been very difficult to completely (switch him) off from that series. He has been announced as captain – he is supposed to play as captain. If this series wasn’t there, I could have pushed him [to play the last Test] even then, the decision would have been this to be honest”.
Hafeez signed off by saying, “Because if a player understands that his body his sore and god forbid he has so much load that he goes into the injury zone, then I had to make this tough decision so that he doesn’t go into the zone that troubles him. In upcoming series, whenever his body responds to workload management, he shall play.”
(With Hindustan Times Inputs)
