Mohammad Hafeez (
Punjabi and ur, ; born 17 October 1980) is a former
Pakistani international cricketer. Hafeez was a versatile batsman who could bat anywhere in the top 6 and formed part of the bowling attack. He played as a spin bowling all-rounder for the majority of his career and, along with Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi, formed part of one of the best spin attacks in the 2010's . He retired from
Test cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...
after the third and final match
against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi in December 2018, departing the ground for the final time in white clothing to a
guard of honour from his teammates. On 3 January 2022, he announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket, ending a career that spanned more than 18 years.
He was the fourth international player to play in the
Caribbean Premier League
The Caribbean Premier League (abbreviated to CPL or CPLT20) is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was founded by Cricket West Indies in 2013 to replace the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in ...
and the first Pakistani player to be named to be chosen for
Twenty20
Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...
tournament. He is nicknamed "The Professor". The major teams for which he played are Pakistan, Lahore, Lahore Lions,
Guyana Amazon Warriors
The Guyana Amazon Warriors is a franchise cricket team of the Caribbean Premier League based in Providence, Georgetown, Guyana. The team is the representative cricket team of Guyana in the Caribbean Premier League. It was one of the six teams c ...
,
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are a franchise cricket team representing the city of Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and her spouse Jay Mehta. The Knight Riders ...
, Sargodha, Sui Gas Corporation of Pakistan. Hafeez scored his test career best of 224 runs against Bangladesh in 2015 at Khulna during the Dan Cake Series.
In August 2018, he was one of the thirty-three players to be awarded a central contract for the 2018–19 season by the
Pakistan Cricket Board
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Counc ...
(PCB). In December 2018, during Pakistan's series
against New Zealand, Hafeez announced that he would retire from Test cricket following the conclusion of the tour, to focus on
limited-overs cricket
Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...
. Hafeez said that the time was right to retire from Test cricket and that he was honoured to represent Pakistan in 55 Test matches, including captaining the side.
After a lackluster personal ICC 2019 World Cup campaign albeit a match-winning 84 batting at number 4 against England in the round-robin stage in 2019, he found new life as a T20 specialist for Pakistan and various leagues across the world. This culminated in him being the leading run scorer in T20I cricket in the world in 2020.
International career
Early years: 2003–2006
Hafeez has played in
Bhera
Bhera ( pa, ; ur, ) is a city and tehsil of Sargodha District, Punjab province of Pakistan. The city is known for wood-carved items, textiles (such as quilts and khussas), and certain desserts (such as pheonian and pateesa).
The city i ...
and was one of several young all-rounders whom the
Pakistani cricket team
The Pakistan national cricket team or Pak cricket team, often referred to as the Shaheens (), Green Shirts, Men in Green and Cornered Tigers is administered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The team is a Full Member of the International ...
turned to in order to revitalize their side after their poor display in 2003 World Cup where Pakistan was out from first round. His form with both bat and ball was inconsistent and in late 2003 he was dropped from the Test squad and subsequently from the ODI side. Following strong domestic performances, as well as some consistent showings for the Pakistan A side, he remained on the fringes of a recall in 2004.
Hafeez returned to the ODI side in 2005 and despite poor form with the bat, his bowling performances were impressive. In the 2006 series held in
Australia, Hafeez smashed his first century for Pakistan. With Pakistan struggling to find a solid opening pair for the Test side, he was recalled for the tour of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. His return to Test cricket was made at
The Oval
The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
where he scored a fluent 95. Subsequently, Hafeez retained his place in the Test squad for Pakistan's home series against the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
in November of that year. After getting out early despite good starts in the first two Tests, he went on to score his second Test century in the third Test in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
.
Recall in 2010
In 2010 he was recalled for the third
ICC World Twenty20
The ICC Men's T20 World Cup (earlier known as ICC World Twenty20) is the international championship of Twenty20. Organised by cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament consists of 16 teams, comprising t ...
squad. His form was poor scoring only 39 runs and taking only 2 wickets in 6 matches. However he was subsequently selected for the
T20Is and the
ODIs on Pakistan's 2010 tour of England. He was the second highest Pakistani run scorer in the ODI series producing some solid opening partnerships with
Kamran Akmal
Kamran Akmal (Urdu, pa, ; born 13 January 1982) is a Pakistani former cricketer, who played for Pakistan as a right-handed batsman & wicketkeeper. He started his international career in November 2002 with a Test match at Harare Sports Club. ...
. Following this good form he was included in the squad that was selected to play South Africa in the
UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
and he replaced disgraced skipper
Salman Butt
Salman Butt (, born 7 October 1984) is a former Pakistani cricketer and captain who played for Pakistan national cricket team between 2003 and 2010, before getting banned for five years for his involvement in 2010 spot-fixing scandal.
He had ...
as an opening batsman in both Tests, achieving a batting average 32.50. He played in all 5 ODI matches ending up as the top run scorer and he also topped the bowling averages for the series. At the end of 2010 he was also selected for the party that would tour New Zealand and the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
and this resulted in him establishing himself as a regular in the Test, ODI and T20 teams.
Rising through ranks
Against India on 18 March 2012 in Bangladesh at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur at the
2012 Asia Cup
The 2012 Asia Cup (also called Micromax Asia Cup) was an international cricket tournament held in Bangladesh from 11 to 22 March 2012. Like the previous event, the tournament featured the four Test-playing nations from Asia: Bangladesh, India, P ...
, he scored 105 off 113 balls and was involved in a 224 run partnership with
Nasir Jamshed, which is the best opening partnership for Pakistan against India in one day internationals. They eclipsed
Aamer Sohail and
Saeed Anwar's record of 144 runs which was made in 1996. During this innings, Hafeez was forced to run a lot which towards the end was hampering him due to a leg injury. Subsequently, he earned the nickname, the Snake of Sargodha, for his zigzag running pattern between the wickets. He made his 4th ODI century in March 2012 against Bangladesh at Dhaka. He also made his highest test score of 196 against Sri Lanka in the second Test at Colombo in June 2012.
In December 2012, during the tour of
Pakistani cricket team in India in 2012–13, he came across as a very different and aggressive batsman and scored so brilliantly and briskly and helped Pakistan to win the first T20I and 2nd ODI with his heroics of brilliant batting and nearly chasing a mountain high target of 191 in the second T20I. His scores were 61 and 55 in first and second T20I respectively and scored 76 runs in the 2nd ODI and sharing an opening stand of 141 with
Nasir Jamshed and also bowled economically to help Pakistan win their first ODI series in India since 7 years. In this period, he was considered to be the main all-rounder of Pakistan Cricket team along with
Shahid Afridi. He had a great series against Sri Lanka in Dec 2013, where he scored 122 in the first match, 140* in the third and 113* in the fourth match. Thus he became, the second batsman after
Zaheer Abbas
Syed Zaheer Abbas Kirmani PP, (in Punjabi and Urdu: سید ظہیر عباس کرمانی; born 24 July 1947), popularly known as Zaheer Abbas, is a former Pakistani cricketer. He is among few professional cricketers who used to wear spectacles ...
to score 3 centuries in an ODI series. Hafeez was initially selected in the Pakistan squad for the 2015 World Cup but was ruled out 6 days before the World Cup due to a calf injury. He was replaced by Nasir Jamshed.
For his performances in 2014, he was named in the World ODI XI by ICC.
He was also named in the T20I XI by Cricinfo for his performances in 2013.
On 20 December 2020, he hit his career best T20I score of 99
* off 57 balls
against New Zealand in their second T20I at Hamilton. On 31 July 2021, he bowled his most economic spell in the T20I against West Indies, giving away 6 runs off his 4 overs.
T20 captaincy record
Captaincy
He was appointed captain of the Pakistan T20 team in May 2012 and vice captain, under
Misbah-ul-Haq, of the ODI and Test teams. During the
2012 ICC World Twenty20 in
Sri Lanka in September 2012, Pakistan reached the semi-finals where they lost to the home side. After the tournament, there was some controversy with veteran all-rounder
Abdul Razzaq who was critical of his non-selection for a number of matches. Hafeez also came into some conflict with the
PCB over their view that he adopted a rather unilateral and non-consultative approach while making selection decisions. However, he was supported by the coach
Dav Whatmore
Davenell Frederick Whatmore (born 16 March 1954) is a Sri Lanka born Australian cricket coach and former cricketer.
A right-handed batsman, Whatmore played seven Test matches for Australia in 1979, and one One Day International in 1980. At ...
and both of them emphasised the poor fitness levels of many players. The PCB committee decided that they would subsequently closely monitor Hafeez's performance in this context during the coming tours to India and South Africa.
As a captain, he led Pakistan to victories over South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe. He equalled the records of most wins as a Pakistani captain in T20 and most number of away series wins as a Pakistani captain. Under his leadership, Pakistan managed to move up to the second position in the rankings.
He also became the first Pakistani captain to hit three fifties in a row and became Pakistan's leading run scorer in T20s. After Pakistan's exit from the T20 World Championship Hafeez apologized on behalf of his team and stepped down as captain.
Imran Khan
Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...
, Pakistan's former captain criticised this decision and advised Hafeez to stay as captain. His resignation was a rare incident in Pakistan cricket.
Post-captaincy (2016 - present)
In March 2016, Pakistan's exit from the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 after losing 3 matches caused great controversy in Pakistan, with blame shifting between Waqar Younis as well as many of the players on the team. Hafeez was accused, by Younis, of lying about his knee injury before the T20. He said it could have affected the teams poor performance. Despite bad performance during the T20I world cup 2016 Hafeez was picked for the England tour of 2016 Hafeez was out on 0 several times throughout the test series and during the ODI series in the first match he was out on 11 which then he was dropped for rest of the tour because of bad performance and not fit enough to play. After missing out of international cricket for months in which he missed the
West Indies series in the UAE, Hafeez was then picked for the
Australia tour 2017 to play the ODI series. As of the first ODI match Hafeez was out on 4. For the second ODI Azhar Ali was ruled out because of injury which promoted Hafeez to captain Pakistan, Hafeez did a very good job as Pakistan won the match and won for the first time in 12 years on Australian soil. Not only that Hafeez's captaincy was appreciated but he also made 72 runs which earned him player of the match. Hafeez was a regular member in Pakistan's triumph in the Champions Trophy 2017 in England
In April 2019, he was named in
Pakistan's squad for the
2019 Cricket World Cup
The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...
. Though, he was named man of the match in Pakistan's second match of the tournament against England for his 62-ball 84 and important wicket of English captain
Eoin Morgan, he remained inconsistent for the rest of the tournament with low-strike rate scores of 16, 9, 20, 32, 19 and 27. He didn't do wonders with the ball either with an expensive economy rate of almost 6 per over which was worse than any other Pakistani spinner in the tournament.
In June 2020, he was named in a 29-man squad for Pakistan's
tour to England during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. However, on 23 June 2020, Hafeez was one of seven players from Pakistan's squad to test positive for COVID-19. Hafeez then tested negative the following day, after taking a private test to get a second opinion. On 30 August 2020, in the second T20I against England, Hafeez became the second batsman for Pakistan to
score 2,000 runs in T20I cricket. On 10 April 2021, in the first match
against South Africa, Hafeez played in his
100th T20I match.
In September 2021, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the
2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup
The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventu ...
.
T20 franchise career
IPL career
Mohammad Hafeez was signed by
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are a franchise cricket team representing the city of Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and her spouse Jay Mehta. The Knight Riders ...
, and played in the
inaugural season of the
IPL. He scored 64 runs in 8 matches and picked up 1 wicket in the tournament. He did not play in the
2nd edition of
IPL due to the tense atmosphere after the
2008 Mumbai attacks.
PSL career
Hafeez was placed in the Diamond category in the
inaugural edition of
PSL and was picked ("bought") for US$70,000 by the
Peshawar Zalmi
Peshawar Zalmi ( ur, ; ps, پېښور زلمي; literally meaning "Peshawar's youth") is a Pakistani franchise T20 cricket team which plays in the Pakistan Super League and represents Peshawar, the capital city of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa pro ...
side. He left Peshawar Zalmi in 2018 after playing for the franchise for 3 years. He was picked by
Lahore Qalanders for the
fourth edition of PSL and was also given the captaincy.
Bangladesh Premier League career
In December 2015, he was signed by
Dhaka Dynamites for the remainder of the
2015 Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). In December 2018, Hafeez joined
Rajshahi Kings
Rajshahi Royals ( Varendri/ bn, রাজশাহী রয়্যালস) were a Bangladeshi franchise Twenty20 cricket team. The team was based in Rajshahi in Bangladesh and competes in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), a Twenty20 fr ...
for the
sixth edition of
Bangladesh Premier League.
Other leagues
Mohammad Hafeez played for
Wayamba United
Wayamba United was a franchise cricket team that took part in Sri Lanka Premier League, representing North Western Province, Sri Lanka, North Western Province. Wadhawan Holdings Private Limited purchased the team for $5.02 million in 2012 fo ...
in
2012 Sri Lanka Premier League.
In January 2014, he was signed by
Melbourne Stars
The Melbourne Stars are an Australian Twenty20 franchise cricket team, based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in Australia's Twenty20 competition, the Big Bash League. The Stars wear a green uniform and play their home matches at the Melb ...
as a replacement
Lasith Malinga
Separamadu Lasith Malinga ( si, සෙපරමාදු ලසිත් මාලිංග; born 28 August 1983), nicknamed "Slinga Malinga", is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers ...
for the reminder of the
2013–14 BBL.
On 3 June 2018, he was selected to play for the Montreal Tigers in the players' draft for the
inaugural edition of the
Global T20 Canada tournament.
In September 2018, he was named in Nangarhar's squad for the
first edition of the
Afghanistan Premier League
The Afghanistan Premier League (APL) ( ps, ; fa, ), officially Gulbahar Afghanistan Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a Twenty20 cricket franchise tournament run by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), held in the United Arab Emirat ...
tournament.
He was signed by Edmonton Royals as marquee player in
2nd season of GT20 Canada in July 2019. He replaced
Rassie Van Dussen in ST KITTS & NEVIS PATRIOTS team for CPL 2019. He then, signed for
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...
for 5 matches in August 2019. He joined Middlesex County Cricket Club for the
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
Vitality Blast
The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...
, as a replacement for
Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Mujeeb Ur Rahman Zadran ( ps, مجیب الرحمن ځدراڼ; born 28 March 2001) is an Afghan cricketer, who plays for the Afghanistan national cricket team. Two months after his international debut, at the age of 16 years and 325 days, he b ...
.
In November 2021, he was selected to play for the
Galle Gladiators
Galle Gladiators are a Sri Lankan franchise professional Twenty20 cricket team that competes in the Lanka Premier League, Sri Lanka and representing the city of Galle, Southern Province. Nadeem Omar, who owns the Quetta Gladiators in Paki ...
following the players' draft for the
2021 Lanka Premier League
The 2021 Lanka Premier League also known as Wolf777 News LPL T20, for sponsorship reasons, was the second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in Sri Lanka. It took place from 5 to 23 December 2021. Th ...
.
In November 2021, he joined Delhi Bulls for the upcoming fifth season of the
Abu Dhabi T10 league.
Bowling action
In June 2015, Hafeez was suspended for an illegal arm action. However, he was again selected for the ODI series against Sri Lanka. He proved the value of his comeback by taking 4 for 41 runs and scored a century, which earned him the man of the match award.
In November 2017, ICC suspended Hafeez again for illegal bowling action.
In December 2019, ECB banned Hafeez from bowling in the
T20 Blast because of his action.
Records and achievements
International centuries
Hafeez has scored 21
centuries
A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c.
A centennial or ...
(100 or more
runs) in
Test matches,
One Day International (ODI) matches, organized by the
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...
. Hafeez has scored 10 centuries in Test matches and 11 centuries in ODIs.
Test centuries
Hafeez scored his maiden Test century in his second match on 27 August 2003 against Bangladesh.
His highest Test score is 224 which was also scored against Bangladesh on 28 April 2015 at Khulna.
ODI centuries
In ODIs, his maiden century came against New Zealand on 29 January 2011 at Christchurch. He scored 115 runs in that match and guided Pakistan to the victory.
Up to now, his highest ODI score is 140
* which was scored against Sri Lanka on 22 December 2013 at Sharjah.
Sri Lanka is being his favorite opponent in ODIs, against them he had scored 4 centuries.
References
External links
Mohammad Hafeezs profile page on Wisden
Mohammad Hafeez on Twitter
Mohammad Hafeez on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hafeez, Mohammad
1980 births
Living people
People from Sargodha District
Punjabi people
Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup
Pakistani cricket captains
Pakistan Test cricket captains
Baluchistan Bears cricketers
Dhaka Dynamites cricketers
Faisalabad cricketers
Faisalabad Wolves cricketers
Federal Areas cricketers
Guyana Amazon Warriors cricketers
Khulna Royal Bengals cricketers
Kolkata Knight Riders cricketers
Lahore Lions cricketers
Lahore Qalandars cricketers
Melbourne Stars cricketers
Middlesex cricketers
Pakistan One Day International cricketers
Pakistan Test cricketers
Pakistan Twenty20 International cricketers
Pakistani cricketers
Peshawar Zalmi cricketers
Punjab (Pakistan) cricketers
Rajshahi Kings cricketers
Sargodha cricketers
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots cricketers
Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited cricketers
Wayamba United cricketers
Southern Punjab (Pakistan) cricketers
Galle Gladiators cricketers