Mohammad Hafeez axed from Pakistan Test team

Pakistan’s dull and pathetic opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez has been finally dropped from the Test cricket team for upcoming series against South Africa starting on 14 October in the United Arab Emirates.

Before being axed, he has been extremely lucky to open the batting in 23 consecutive Test matches for Pakistan despite of his poor batting technique and lack of proper skills. Cricket experts say that Mohammad Hafeez plays away from his body and has a minimal footwork. That’s why he is usually unable to cope with the ball movement when plays outside flat Asian continent pitches.

Popularly known as ‘professor’, Mohammad Hafeez was expected to be left out of the Pakistan Test team due to his poor record this year having an aggregate of only 102 runs in 10 innings as his vulnerability against moving ball was blatantly exposed in particular in the recent past.

Mohammad Hafeez had not missed any Test match since he was recalled as an opening batsman of Pakistan team almost three years ago when Pakistan played against South Africans in the United Arab Emirates in November 2010. He scored 60 and 34 in his comeback maiden Test in Dubai. In these 23 Test matches he scored only three centuries – one apiece against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – and  five half centuries.

Mohammad Hafeez has opened with five different batsmen in these 23 Test matches – Khurram Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Nasir Jamshed and Taufeeq Umar. The most stable of these five pairs was Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar who opened in 18 consecutive Test matches.

In 45 innings of these 23 Test matches, there were only four hundred partnerships in addition to six half century stands for the opening wicket. On the other hand, on 18 occasions Mohammad Hafeez and his partner failed to give a start of 10 or more which is a very high and unacceptable percentage of 40%. This makes Mohammad Hafeez as one of the most unsuccessful opening batsman in Pakistan’s 61 years history of Test cricket.

Mohammad Hafeez has played in 34 Test matches as Pakistan’s opening batsman and scored 2061 runs at a mediocre average of 33.78 with the help of five centuries and eight fifties. Out of this aggregate of 2061 runs, 1520 runs were scored in Asian continent at an average of 43.42 in 20 Test matches. In addition to this, 216 runs were scored in three Tests in Zimbabwe – the weakest team outside Asia.

His total tally of runs outside Asia and Zimbabwe is only 325 in 11 Test matches at an average of paltry 16.25. Mohammad Hafeez has batting average of 11.83 in South Africa, 11.50 in the West Indies and 14.00 in New Zealand. He has not played any Test match in Australia and India.

Although Mohammad Hafeez’s record is better in One Day Internationals and even more better in Twenty20 Internationals, but he has been a complete failure in Test cricket. He made his Test debut against Bangladesh in August 2003 and has been looming around for more than 10 years without any significant success.

Mohammad Hafeez is ranked 50^th in the current ICC Test batsmen ranking, 31^st in One day Internationals and 17^th in the Twenty20 International batsmen ranking. However, he has confirmed his utility as an all-rounder in limited overs cricket. Currently he is ranked 1^st in One Day Internationals and 2^nd in Twenty20 Internationals all-rounders ranking.

In a recently conducted poll, nearly 80% voted against his inclusion in the Test team. As hapless selectors have dropped him finally, one should expect Mohammad Hafeez not to be selected in the Test team again. Let him focus on his all-round deliverance in limited overs cricket, especially twenty20 cricket where he is one of the most useful all-rounders in world cricket today. At 32, he may still have few good years in shorter versions of cricket and also the best candidate to captain Pakistani cricket team in Twenty20 Internationals.