Mohammad Hafeez, the rise in tide!
After disastrous campaign of World Cup 2003, PCB recruited some young players in order to build Pakistan as a strong unit. Mohammad Hafeez was one of those youngsters who made his debut in 2003 but throughout his selections he failed to leave an impact which he could, his presence in team was never confirmed as he was not consistent with his performance.
In Pakistan's recent series against England in England(2010), Mohammad Hafeez returned to ODI Cricket after 3 years. That was his 3rd comeback in ODI Cricket and beyond shadow of doubt its most fertile part of his ODI Career. The tide, which had many blows to it, has finally started to rise and will reach the shore if manages to thrash everything in subcontinent[World Cup 2011]. It was perfect time to hit form as World Cup is just days away now. Hafeez's numbers has been magnificent since his comeback.
The stats are yours!
Here are some stats of Hafeez since his comeback in England
Matches Played: 13
Batting Average: 40.75
Runs scored: 489
50s/100s: 3/1
Batting average when Pakistan won: 50.40
The batting average of 40.75 might not look very impressive when compared to other openers of World but amid Pakistan's opening troubles the average of 40.75 becomes a solution to these troubles. Moreover, this average is much higher than his career average[i.e 23.10] which illustrates the current rise in his form. This average increases even further in Pakistan's victories as mentioned above. And not to forget, all these matches are played under Shahid Afridi's captaincy.
One major problem with his batting was that he was giving brisk starts but wasnt able to convert cameos in large innings. Finally after the wait of 7 years and 60 matches, today he hit first century of ODI career, once again perfect time to score it, may be he has saved his best for World Cup 2011.
X-Factor: Not to forget he is a bowler too. 46 wickets in his career of 61 matches and superb economy of 4.53 can never be neglected. He is known to give breakthroughs, economy is awesome in this era of ODI Cricket where batsmen usually prevail. This economy(4.53) is better than the career-economies of Abdur Razzak, Umar Gul, Abdul Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir and Shahid Afridi. And with safe pair of hands, he becomes a formidable all-rounder in Pakistan's colours.
One interesting and lucky part of his career is that in spite of being a turbulent selection in Pakistan's squads he still managed to make into big events of ICC as since his debut he has featured in ICC's Champions Trophy 2006, World Cup 2007, World T20 2007, World T20 2010 and now in squad of World Cup 2011.
Written by, editor of this website, Mazher Arshad on 29/01/2011
