Waqar’s time is over, must learn from mistakes: Hafeez

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Pakistan’s veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, in a Youtube video with former fast-bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Saturday, insinuated that the bowling coach Waqar younis’ time was up and claimed that the former legendary pacer needed to learn from his mistakes.

The veteran all-rounder believed that the importance must be given to the younger players and hoped the former legend had learned from his mistakes in the past.

“I learnt a lot from Waqar Younis when he came as a coach but what he has to learn is that his time is over, and it’s time for the younger players to be given important - I hope he's learnt a lot,” said Hafeez. “I hope that he does. You must learn from your mistakes and if Waqar Younis still hasn’t learnt from his mistakes then let’s see.”

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Hafeez blamed the lack of support from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for his decision to step down from captaincy in 2014.

“When I left the captaincy in 2014, a lot of people said that I took a decision in haste,” he said. “The problem is that PCB was never behind me; in 2012 I was made captain of the T20 side, and the number 9th ranked team became number one ranked and at a time when I would have taken Misbah's position, there was a change in the Board and I was not in their 'liking'; They felt others could do a better job than Hafeez and I left the captaincy after 2014 and handed over to whoever could do this better but unfortunately, even this decision wasn’t right.”

The 39-year-old believed that the current Australia team did not possess the same mindset and body language of its predecessors.

“Let me tell you personally, that after playing against Australia a few times in the last few years, I do not see that mindset and body language of old times,” he said. “But now that they have some of their better players back, I can see that they have a different mindset and that they showed in the Ashes.”

Hafeez urged the Pakistan team to display a fighting attitude without fearing the result in their upcoming series against Australia.

“Australia is one place where a new player cannot perform well straightaway, you need time and you need that experience behind you,” he said. “I dont care if Pakistan loses all their matches in Australia but what I want them to stare them in the eye and show that 2 teams [of equal stature] are fighting to win.”

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The veteran all-rounder expressed confidence at batsman Babar Azam’s ability to deliver in the role of captain while stating that he would require time to deliver.

“One thing I can say is that Babar's batting will not suffer [due to captaincy] as his mindset is so strong that he thinks very positively about his own game, and he knows all methods needed to score. To expect Babar to deliver results as captain in 3-6 months would be stupidity,” he concluded.