Hafeez not taking Proteas lightly despite absence of key players

Pakistan’s veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has claimed that the Men in Green will not take the South African side lightly, despite the absence of key players, as they get ready to switch to the Twenty20 International (T20I) series, after their recent two-one series win in the One-Day Internationals against the same opposition.

The 40-year-old, who was not part of the ODI squad that took on South Africa in the series, praised the top-order for their splendid work in recent matches.

"The South African side is missing some key players because of the IPL and injuries but they are still competing on their home turf. We cannot take them lightly,” Hafeez said.

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He also opened up on gifting a bat to opener Fakhar Zaman, who was the player of the series during the ODIs. 

“After Fakhar’s comments, the demand for my bat has increased significantly. Thousands of bats are needed. The real credit however goes to Fakhar Zaman who showed that the Pakistan team does not admit defeat easily. Our top-order is in splendid form but we need to work on our middle-order,” he said.

The veteran all-rounder also expressed interest in bowling as well during the upcoming T20I series, while also talking about the team’s woes in the middle-order. 

“I am hopeful for performing as an all-rounder. I can bowl 10 overs in ODIs and four in T20Is. The captain decides if he wants to give me a chance in the bowling department or not,” he said.

"We are hopeful of solving our issues in the middle-order soon. We have some good players in our lower middle-order,” he concluded.