No one had anticipated Mohammad Hafeez’s ‘sudden’ retirement from international cricket earlier this week. It was so unexpected that media representatives were expecting routine coverage when they were called to cover the press conference of The Professor on Monday.

Commenting on Hafeez’s retirement, veteran all-rounder, Shahid Afridi, said that he thinks that Hafeez was forced into announcing his retirement from the game.

He added that he watched Hafeez’s farewell press conference closely and observed that his body language was indicating that he wanted to play for the national side more instead of hanging up his boots.

He highlighted that there is a communication gap that has existed between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and centrally contracted players for several years now, urging the former to take measures to bridge the gap.

The former captain also lauded Hafeez for parting ways with the international game in a dignified manner and not turning his retirement into a major controversy.

Mohammad Hafeez represented Pakistan for 18 years, featuring in 55 Tests, 218 ODIs, and 119 T20Is for the national side. He scored more than 12,000 runs and picked over 250 wickets across all formats.

The 41-year old is one of the most successful limited-overs players in the country’s cricketing history and was central in Pakistan’s ICC 2017 Champions Trophy triumph.

He featured for Pakistan for the last time against Australia in the semi-final of the 2021 T20 World Cup. Hafeez is set to continue to play franchise league cricket all over the world and will be seen in action in PSL 7 with Lahore Qalandars.

Source: Pro Pakistani