Mohammad Hafeez: Brain Lara Also Admitted That He Had Difficulty Batting Against Me
May 26, 2020 at 1:59 PM
The 39-year-old Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has recently claimed that the left-handed batsmen have always faced difficulty to face his off-spin, including the legendary Caribbean batsman Brian Lara.
Mohammad Hafeez is serving for the Pakistan national cricket team for a long time after making his international debut in April 2003. He has played 55 Tests, 218 ODIs and 91 T20Is where the right-handed batsman has scored 3652 runs (average 37.64), 6614 runs (average 32.90) and 1992 runs (average 25.21) respectively.
Also, as an off-spinner, Hafeez has taken 53 Test wickets, 139 ODI wickets and 54 T20I wickets. The former no.1-ranked ODI bowler as well as former no.1-ranked ODI and T20I all-rounder, Hafeez has been suspended from bowling for more than once due to illegal arm action. However, he has never given up his bowling.
Recently, Hafeez claimed that the left-handers always faced difficulty against his bowling. While the former West Indian left-handed batsman Brian Lara was one of his favourite batsmen, Hafeez also added that Lara admitted his struggle against the offie’s bowling. In the international career, Hafeez dismissed Lara for thrice.
Hafeez told Geo News, “Left-handers have always had difficulty facing me. However, I have bowled well to right-handers as well. If you look at my economy rate, it’s the same against both. I dismissed one of my favourite batsmen, Brian Lara, as well.
“He [Lara] also admitted that he had difficulty batting against me. He was a world class batsman and there are very few batsmen who played spinners as well as Lara.”
Mohammad Hafeez called his bowling success against the left-handed batsmen was a god-gifted
Hafeez also claimed that the bowling supported him a lot of in his cricket career as it helped to make up his batting failure in some matches. He feels his bowling success against the left-handed batsmen is a god-gifted which he wants to continue till the end of his playing career.
He added, “In my career, my bowling has supported me a lot. If I was not able to perform with the bat in some match, I used to make up for it with my bowling. I would like to continue my success against left-handers, which is a God-gifted talent, till I am playing cricket.”
In his international career, Hafeez has dismissed 137 left-handed batsmen and 109 right-handed batsmen.
Mohammad Hafeez retired from the Test cricket in December 2018 to put his entire focus in the limited-overs matches. In last January, he announced to retire from the international cricket after the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The former Pakistan captain Hafeez led his national team in 32 international matches (29 T20Is, two ODIs and only Test).