Pakistan veteran Mohammad Hafeez plays the role of finisher to perfection

Ajit Vijaykumar 07:18 20/01/2019
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Pakistan batsman Mohammad Hafeez hit an unbeaten fifty in Port Elizabeth.

    Modern ODI cricket is now less about youth and more about the ability to handle pressure. Yes fitness is important but a decent veteran is more bankable than a promising youngster because when victory is there for the taking, it’s the veteran who will always take his team home.

    In a strange development, older guys are preferred in formats like ODIs – India’s top seven in the second ODI against Australia was over 30 – while in Tests you do need a bit more of youth to sustain energy levels and intensity across days while having the ability to strike back quickly – with bat or ball.

    India got re-acquainted with MS Dhoni the finisher as the veteran wicketkeeper batsman hit three successive fifties during the three-match ODI series in Australia, remaining until the end in the last two matches.

    There was criticism – some of it valid – about the number of deliveries Dhoni continues to take to get going and that it was the attacking knocks of Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav and Adelaide and Melbourne that pushed India past the finish line.

    That debate can go on until the cows come home. But the beauty and precision of another innings by a veteran middle order batsman on Saturday was beyond debate.

    In the first ODI between South Africa and Pakistan in Port Elizabeth, the visitors had lost their way chasing 267 with veterans Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed departing in quick succession to make it 223-5 in the 43rd over. It was anyone’s game.

    At moments like these, you ideally need an all-format batsman who has played hundreds of international games at most positions and in pressure situations. Mohammad Hafeez was that man for Pakistan.

    His unbeaten 71 from 63 balls – batting at Number 4 – that included eight fours and two sixes was paced absolutely perfectly. With 28 needed from the last four overs, Hafeez straightway took Duanne Olivier for two boundaries to take the pressure of his team and not leave too much work to be done in overs number 48, 49 and 50.

    Any sooner and Pakistan could have been six down with 30 or more to get. Any later and the visitors would have needed more runs with fewer balls and then wickets in hand don’t matter. While it can be said that Dhoni could have finished the games against Australia in a more clinical fashion, Hafeez was spot on with his acceleration.

    While it has been a long time since Hafeez’s 37-ball 57 against India in the 2017 Champions Trophy final that put the match in Pakistan’s kitty, it can’t be denied that Hafeez still has ‘got it’ at the age of 38.

    The Professor has quit Test cricket to focus all his energies on playing ODI cricket for Pakistan leading up to the World Cup in England. That he is also allowed to bowl again after getting his action cleared gives Pakistan a massive boost.

    As beleaguered as Pakistan are in the Test format, they are equally blessed to have Hafeez and Malik in the ODI middle order with both capable of bowling a few overs between them as well.

    With such an enviable middle order that also has Sarfraz, Pakistan look like a completely different outfit compared to the one that represents them in the Test arena.

    Recommended