Mohammad Hafeez informed management of his decision to retire from Test cricket......

[Saj]

last night.

He informed Inzamam-ul-Haq first
Then Mickey Arthur
Then the PCB

He gave no indications to the selectors or the coaching staff that he was going to retire from Test cricket and as far as the selectors and team management were concerned, he was going to be available for the Test series in South Africa.

Discuss the timing of the decision......

 

[pakistani pride]

last night.

He informed Inzamam-ul-Haq first
Then Mickey Arthur
Then the PCB

He gave no indications to the selectors or the coaching staff that he was going to retire from Test cricket and as far as the selectors and team management were concerned, he was going to be available for the Test series in South Africa.

Discuss......

Great news!

Now some one convince him to retire from LOI as well

 

[BreadPakoda]

No one plans to retire in the middle of a test or right before a series.

He had his moment of epiphany and in my opinion did the right thing. Could have waited for the test to end? Perhaps. However, we don’t know what he was going through. Getting constantly trolled can take a toll on a public figure.

 

[Amjid Javed]

So Hafeezs retirement was like a boult from the blue oh the irony.

 

[MenInG]

The allure of a guard of honour was too good to miss

 

[Rana]

I think the guy is mentally shot. Must feel like a burden in the dressing room also. Ive seen it first hand when senior pro's/players who used to carry the team or contributed majorly to the team couldn't conjure the courage to look a youngster or his teammates in the eye because they no longer could be a role model for the rest. Heart breaking retirement but it didn't have to be this way for the professor. He should have outlined his goal after the 2017 Champion's trophy that this is what he wants to do for the country now and put all his efforts in to bring the big cup back home.

Im afraid chasing pay cheques can lead to a real dent in ones reputation in the long run. Played a needless year or two of Test cricket

 

[Savak]

Feel Sad. Wish he could have scored a century against Steyn and then called it a day

 

[trickyone]

Did het get a guard of honor yet if not then I am wondering if New Zealand will give him one or not?

 

[Pete Rose]

i dont normally troll misbah, but at least hafeez retired before the Saffers tour much like misbah should have before the last Oz tour.

 

[Haroon786]

No one plans to retire in the middle of a test or right before a series.

He had his moment of epiphany and in my opinion did the right thing. Could have waited for the test to end? Perhaps. However, we don’t know what he was going through. Getting constantly trolled can take a toll on a public figure.

There have been rumours regarding his retirement circulating for a week or two prior to today.....

 

[Muhammad10]

Feel Sad. Wish he could have scored a century against Steyn and then called it a day

He's better equipped to bag a hundred ducks facing Steyn rather than score a century against him...

 

[Adnan_Ilyas]

He looked out of touch so its good.

 

[Stewie]

last night.

He informed Inzamam-ul-Haq first
Then Mickey Arthur
Then the PCB

He gave no indications to the selectors or the coaching staff that he was going to retire from Test cricket and as far as the selectors and team management were concerned, he was going to be available for the Test series in South Africa.

Discuss the timing of the decision......

Hindsight is 2020 but this does seem a bit selfish, doesnt it? If he was planning to hand uo the whites, he should have called it earlier so someone could be tested under home conditions first before going to SA, me thinks..

 

[shaaik]

Should have done it after 1st test or 2nd at max, but it seems it was out of the blue, not thought out. however, if Hafeez had planned it this way then he has really acted selfish here to delay it by a test or 2..

 

[battler]

Did het get a guard of honor yet if not then I am wondering if New Zealand will give him one or not?

Why should Hafeez get a guard of honour from Nz players? Is he a great of the game? Aajkal toh aivay har kisi mediocre player ko guard of honour chahiye just because he has played for several years lol.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

He's better equipped to bag a hundred ducks facing Steyn rather than score a century against him...

This.

If Steyn hadn't got to him, Philander or Rabada would have.

 

[Saj]

I feel a bit uncomfortable about the timing.

Made such a song and dance about being dropped from Test cricket. Made his century and created such a scene and then a few Tests later when he has struggled he throws in the towel.

The timing sucks really. He leaves Pakistan having to bring in another opener for a very tough Test series.

 

[superman]

Maybe overanalysing but what a horrible selfish act. He did not have a place in the team and he knows that now, but he also knew this last month so should have told team management before so they could have groomed someone for sa. Or he is pulling out knowing sa will beat us and he can then unretire as saviour and with the burden of definite 6 scores of under 10 he was going to make in sa

 

[ManFan]

True character is revealed in adversity.

Mohammad Hafeez will be remembered as a purely selfish individual in the epochs of cricket.

 

[Hasan123]

He knew that if he was embarrassed in the test for South Africa he could have lost his LO place since that’s how our CS works. A very calculated move. Hopefully he retires from LO soon.

 

[Adnan_Ilyas]

As long as he keeps his good form in T20s snd hopefully ODIs that would be brilliant

 

[Amjid Javed]

I feel a bit uncomfortable about the timing.

Made such a song and dance about being dropped from Test cricket. Made his century and created such a scene and then a few Tests later when he has struggled he throws in the towel.

The timing sucks really. He leaves Pakistan having to bring in another opener for a very tough Test series.

Typical selfishness from hafeez, just like the endless times he use to waste batting reviews when he was clearly out, typical seniors behaviour. Selectors, coach and captain are to blame for his test recall which was always going to be a short sighted short term fix which was going to end in tears.

Personally i think having him in malik in odi team going into world cup had no benefit to team either.

 

[PakPremi]

I feel a bit uncomfortable about the timing.

Made such a song and dance about being dropped from Test cricket. Made his century and created such a scene and then a few Tests later when he has struggled he throws in the towel.

The timing sucks really. He leaves Pakistan having to bring in another opener for a very tough Test series.

Any other opener experienced or inexperienced one will score more runs in the next series, so a good result for team Pak.

 

[coy0607]

he should just walk away now. Don't even finish the test. Its not like he's going to contribute anything

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

I will blame Hafeez for many things but not for selfishness. He wants to play, Not his fault he keeps getting selected. Onus on the selectors not him to make those calls.

None of the posters here will give up college or their jobs just because you are in the bottom 10% - unless you are pushed out.

 

[CricVet]

I know my post will get deleted for the words I wanna choose for this guy and selectors. Such a Pathetic player who did not deserve even one chance ahead of Faisal Iqbal, let alone the best domestic player Fawad Alam. GOOD RIDDANCE...Bye Bye...TA TA forever...thanks but no thanks for the disservices. It was never his technique, it was always his mental block that disappointed many Pakistan cricket fans.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Saved face by avoiding the chop for good.

Honestly, a very selfish decision to distract the team in the middle of a very important innings.

 

[Savak]

I have a feeling he was told he was going to be dropped so he decided to safe face and pre-empt everyone by retiring.

 

[Savak]

I feel a bit uncomfortable about the timing.

Made such a song and dance about being dropped from Test cricket. Made his century and created such a scene and then a few Tests later when he has struggled he throws in the towel.

The timing sucks really. He leaves Pakistan having to bring in another opener for a very tough Test series.

He was probably told he was not going to SA and will not be in the plans for test cricket going forward and therefore decided to save some face by retiring.

 

[moghul]

Professor , please retire from international cricket altogether, Thanks.

 

[moghul]

I will blame Hafeez for many things but not for selfishness. He wants to play, Not his fault he keeps getting selected. Onus on the selectors not him to make those calls.

None of the posters here will give up college or their jobs just because you are in the bottom 10% - unless you are pushed out.

No, selfishness belongs to Misbah.

 

[shane]

It all seems a bit premature as I am not sure he has actually announced his retirement? It will be a bit sad to see him go. I remember watching his ODI debut and thinking "this guy won't be around for long with that technique" and, to his credit, he has somehow clung on for so long despite his flaws.

 

[PakPremi]

Saved face by avoiding the chop for good.

Honestly, a very selfish decision to distract the team in the middle of a very important innings.

On the contrary it would boost Pakistan with the knowledge that there will now be an extra batsman in the team when they play next.

 

[RickyG]

Hafeez can't win on this forum. The ultimate enemy. If he scores then people complain how dare he score and if he fails then they call him useless.

It's his career. If he feels he has nothing left to contribute in test cricket then he is right to retire. His bowling has been completely under-utilized and since the hundred against Australia he has looked completely out of sorts.

I'll be the only one on this forum to say: Thank you for your service in test cricket Mohammad Hafeez.

 

[RickyG]

I feel a bit uncomfortable about the timing.

Made such a song and dance about being dropped from Test cricket. Made his century and created such a scene and then a few Tests later when he has struggled he throws in the towel.

The timing sucks really. He leaves Pakistan having to bring in another opener for a very tough Test series.

Obviously it's not ideal. But if he feels he is a burden on the team then do you think he should continue to stick around?

There's nothing wrong with the timing. He felt he wasn't good enough anymore and that's that.

As for new openers, here are your options:

1. Imam
2. Fakhar Zaman
3. Azhar Ali
4. Sami Aslam

Those are 4 very decent options and all of them better than Hafeez on current form. So it really isn't the end of the world and might even be a blessing.

 

[gazza619]

I think Hafeez would have been dropped from SA tests so it was a clever move.

 

[Ummii]

Question is Who is going to Open with Imam? I suspect It is going to be Shan Masood. Who also struggle to play pace bowling

 

[cricketAXEpert]

last night.

He informed Inzamam-ul-Haq first
Then Mickey Arthur
Then the PCB

He gave no indications to the selectors or the coaching staff that he was going to retire from Test cricket and as far as the selectors and team management were concerned, he was going to be available for the Test series in South Africa.

Discuss the timing of the decision......

Hafeez obviously decided after his recent failure. The pressure was building up on him to perform after that Century. And then the Last dismissal must been the last straw. HE was getting out in the same way Dale Steyn was dismissing him.
No need hang around, Hafeez knows that he was only a stand in opener, awaiting the return of Fakhar Zaman, so he quit once he knew that he will only be an embarrassment in South Africa. So good decision.

Nothing sinister about it.

 

[cricketAXEpert]

Lots of Hafeez-Haters are asking him to Retire from LOI's as well. But He can & still is a solid middle order Player in Odi, with his bowling a very valuable player in that format. We need Hafeez and Shoaib Malik for the World cup 2019

 

[Ab Fan]

Good decision. But the series is still alive and making this comment halfway the match is not good as it distract the team from the game.

 

[barah_admi]

Fair play to him.

Fakhar should come back into the side and as Hafeez has looked pretty good in recent ODIs, I would not begrudge him a few more matches in the format.

 

[chacha kashmiri]

Azhar Ali back as opener
Shan Masood deserves another opportunity too

 

[Junaids]

i dont normally troll misbah, but at least hafeez retired before the Saffers tour much like misbah should have before the last Oz tour.

Misbah was worse than that.

Having failed aged 34 in Australia and aged 36 in South Africa, he went to Australia aged 41 and averaged 12.66, fully SEVEN runs less than Mohammad Amir.

If instead Umar Akmal has gone and scored at his previous average in Tests and A Tests in Australia, Pakistan would have won at Brisbane and drawn at the MCG.

Misbah’s selfishness, followed by his Asian-style bowling strategies, cost Pakistan dearly.

As for Hafeez, I agree with [MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] : this is completely selfish timing.

But what did anyone expect? Hafeez was willing to end batsmen’s careers by dismissing them with a bowling action which was repeatedly found to be illegal, so why would we expect him to care about how his team would fare in South Africa?

On the subject of his bowling, what do people make of the fact that he has bowled fewer than 20 overs in 5 UAE Tests this season? Does it mean that the action he used to pass his chucking re-test was different to his usual match action?

He scored a lovely ton in the first of the five Tests, albeit on an easy pitch. Since then he has scored around 100 runs in seven innings and bowled less than twenty overs.

And that is classified as being an “all-rounder”!

I feel a bit uncomfortable about the timing.

Made such a song and dance about being dropped from Test cricket. Made his century and created such a scene and then a few Tests later when he has struggled he throws in the towel.

The timing sucks really. He leaves Pakistan having to bring in another opener for a very tough Test series.

If Fakhar is fit he will have to open with Azhar. Imam looks like he’s lost it completely.

 

[CricVet]

Nobody has questined his bowling at all. Only if he had realized that he was a much better LOI bowler than a test opener, he would have held up his head high.

 

[Snowflake]

I feel a bit uncomfortable about the timing.

Made such a song and dance about being dropped from Test cricket. Made his century and created such a scene and then a few Tests later when he has struggled he throws in the towel.

The timing sucks really. He leaves Pakistan having to bring in another opener for a very tough Test series.

I agree with the first that it is weird in a sense that he just made his comeback. But it's also completely understandable because there's no way he was going to be a part of the squad for SA. Even if he did get selected, he knew he doesn't have it in him to succeed there. So, I'd say a pretty smart decision by him is Pakistan really wouldn't suffer much.

 

[topspin]

I saw it coming and the writing was on the wall as I mentioned in a post earlier today (see post 93):

If Hafeez is a man with any dignity left in him whatsoever, he would announce his retirement prior to the 4th innings

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...nd-of-Mohammad-Hafeez&p=10013643#post10013643

I would like to give special thanks to Trent Boult with his pre-xmas treat of ending his career.

Also it is hilarious that some of us on here feel he has earned a guard of honour. That is saved for the legends and ATGs of the game not for the worst Asian batsman away from Asia.

 

[gazza619]

I am just trying to imagine a comic scenario. Pakistan gets a difficult target of 250 to chase in the 2nd innings on Day 4/5. Hafeez bats out of his skin and scores an unbeaten 100, Pakistan wins the match and series. Hafeez gets a guard of honour. He decides to take back his retirement on insistance of fans, wife and friends. Hafeez returns to SA test series. Hafeez gets owned by Steyn. Hafeez retires again from test cricket. Hafeez gets another guard of honour by SA players...Legend!

 

[giri26]

Good decision I feel. He does not have a future in this format and it is better for him to concentrate on the shorter versions of the game.