Hafeez, team manager and effectively head coach, has never played a Test in Australia, but on the eve of his departure he urged his team to play modern, aggressive cricket and see Pakistan’s losing streak as an opportunity rather than a burden.
“When there is excitement in your challenge, when there is an opportunity with nothing to lose and everything to gain, you are winning,” Hafeez said. “As a team, our goal is not what history says, but what we can go out and achieve. The mentality is very clear: this is a very exciting challenge ahead of us and, together, we can achieve better results. I can’t answer because of past results, but from now on you will see better results for Pakistan.
Those past results make for grim reading. Fourteen defeats in three generations, four by an innings, one by almost 500 runs, three by nine or ten wickets – it is not a streak that can be easily overcome.
On the field, as has been the case in their last three tours, concerns revolve around the bowling attack. Shaheen Shah Afridi is the spearhead, but it is less clear who will join him. The absence due to injury of Naseem Shah, the stagnation of Hasan Ali and the inexperience of Abrar Ahmed as a main player mean that the prospects are not particularly bright.
But Hafeez remains confident. “It’s an exciting challenge and I repeat it a lot because when you want to win something, you get excited. Naseem is injured, but I don’t think you can blame losses on the absence of a player. Every player has to perform.” .
“In this team, the bowling unit has good players, the best in Pakistan’s system have been selected. I have a strong feeling that they can deliver winning performances there with the bowling line-up that we have. 20 wickets, that’s when you have chances of winning. I think our bowling is capable of doing that.”
Amid the gloom of the Asia Cup and World Cup results, Naseem’s injury, managerial changes and ongoing administrative instability, it is easy to forget that the last Test assigned to Pakistan was encouraging. They swamped Sri Lanka in two Tests in Sri Lanka and did so with entertaining and attacking verve.
“Every team has its own mantra and winning strategy. We will not play according to how another team plays, but we will have to create our own strategy of how we are going to win. Pakistan cricket has always worked better when they are aggressive. “That is the very message clear to all players: we want them to play with an aggressive mentality. “We won’t change to anyone else’s style, but we want to have our own strong style.”
Pakistan cricket had fallen a bit behind the modern game, Hafeez said, and only once they accepted it could they move forward.
“Modern cricket is not a pill that you swallow and suddenly start playing,” he said. “It’s an intention, a way of thinking, wanting to play in a dominant position, be at the forefront at all times and put in impactful performances. Everyone at this level performs, but there’s no point unless it’s impactful. We need to get out from our comfort zones and work towards achieving team goals and being impactful. Hopefully you will see Pakistan cricket take the first step towards modern cricket.”