Pakistan’s disastrous ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign has started creating a divide amongst the former cricketers of Pakistan as well. Mohammad Hafeez’s words on a TV show affected Shoaib Akhtar so much, that he had to bring India into the argument.
Pakistan lost two of their Group A matches to New Zealand and India, while their match against Bangladesh was washed out. Despite being the hosts of the Champions Trophy, the Pakistan team couldn’t qualify for the tournament semis.
Former all-rounder and ex-head coach Mohammad Hafeez has questioned the legacy left by the star-studded Pakistan teams of the 1990s, who failed to win several ICC tournaments during their tenure.
Shoaib Akhtar, a fast bowling legend, was frequently on the team and was part of the panel in which Hafeez spoke, and the words sparked a fascinating conversation between the two former teammates.
“I am a huge fan of those who played in the 1990s but when it comes to legacy, they left nothing for Pakistan. They didn't win an ICC event - they lost the (World Cups of) 1996, 1999 and 2003. We reached one final (in the 1999 World Cup) and lost that badly,” said Hafeez on OutSide Edge Live.
“As stars, as players, they were the mega superstars. But then they couldn't inspire us by winning an ICC event. Then came a difficult period that we had to go through and then in 2007 we lost the final (of the T20 World Cup). In 2009 we won under Younis Khan's captaincy and so there was an inspiration for the next generation. Then unfortunately a bad incident happened with Pakistan cricket and we have still not been able to recover from that.
Then we won the 2017 Champions Trophy, which was a huge source of inspiration. People idolize Babar Azam today and that is because even if he didn't play a big hand in that event, he was there. So that thing about winning ICC events, this the superstars of the 1990s couldn't do, with all due respect to their talents,” he said.
Malik and Sana Mir then spoke, which halted Hafeez and left everyone in the studio smiling and laughing, even Akhtar.
However, Akhtar, who was part of the mighty Pakistan fast bowling lineup in the 1990s-2000s, got upset at Hafeez’s ‘90s stars couldn’t win an ICC tournament’ comment.
He pointed out to Hafeez that Pakistan's vastly superior head-to-head against arch-rivals India in ODI cricket is because of the victories that his side enjoyed in the 1990s.
“These 73 one-dayers that Pakistan won against India, it is us who won it,” Shoaib Akhtar said.
Hafeez then tried to backtrack saying: “No doubt, and there has been a very strong legacy since the time of Imran Khan. There was some great cricket played during their time as well.”
Shoaib replied: “No you can't cover up now, this video has been made already. You've already spoken about all big players.”
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