Hafeez refuses to play alongside Amir in BPL
CHITTAGONG: Pakistan's batsman
Mohammad Hafeez has turned down an offer from Chittagong Vikings to feature in
the Bangladesh
Premier League since the franchise had also signed tainted young fast bowler
Mohammad Amir.
“It is not about individuals or any personality clash.
It is about the image of Pakistan
cricket. I cannot play with any player who has tarnished and brought a bad name
to the country,” Hafeez was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
“This is my personal opinion and this is not just
about Pakistani players, it's about all players,” the 35-year-old added.
“I didn't get a direct offer from the BPL team but
some agent came up with the offer and I turned it down only because I didn't
want to share a dressing room with that player.”
Hafeez reportedly turned down an offer of around 10 million
Pakistani rupees as the franchise had already signed on Amir.
The 35-year-old has also made his feelings public about the
three tainted players in the spot fixing scandal - Amir, Salman Butt and
Muhammad Asif in the past.
Recently, when the Pakistan team was practicing at the
National Cricket Academy in Lahore, its former bowling coach Mohammad Akram
invited Amir to bowl to Hafeez in the nets but Hafeez flatly refused to face
the left-armer because of his tainted past.
Hafeez is also said to be among a group of players in the Pakistan side
who are strongly opposed to allowing the tainted trio to play for the national
team again in any format.
The BPL has signed around 16 top players from Pakistan and most of these players will go to Bangladesh straight from Dubai
after the T20 series against England.
The top players include Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Umar
Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah.
Amir, the Akmal brothers and Ajmal have all been signed up
by Chittagong.
