For all the talks about friendly relationships between India and Pakistan on the cricket field, former Pakistan stars keep on badmouthing their arch-rivals off the field. Mohammad Hafeez, who’d recently stepped down as Pakistan cricket team’s director, has labelled two of India’s biggest stars, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, as selfish.
Hafeez questions Kohli’s ‘intention’
The former T20 World Cup winner criticized the former Indian skipper for not going for his shots after he entered the 90s against South Africa in the ODI World Cup 2023. Talking on the Club Prairie Fire podcast, he said: “No matter who is batting, your intention and way of playing should always be towards winning the game. But if someone is stopping himself from playing big shots in the 90s, I will never take it. “
After 95, if someone is taking five balls to get to his hundred and not thinking of hitting off those 3 or 4 balls, and if the intention gets changed after scoring a 100, why can’t I play the same shot on 95? So in that game (against South Africa), Virat (Kohli) took a lot of balls to get to his 100, and he was not playing big shots.”
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KL Rahul ‘unhappy’ with victory
Hafeez also claimed that vice-captain KL Rahul was unhappy despite India winning the match after being 2/3 against Australia, as he missed out on his hundred. He said: “I remember in the same tournament, KL Rahul played a fantastic shot over extra cover to finish the game off (against Australia), and he was not happy that India won the game but was unhappy because he couldn’t get his own hundred. This is a selfish approach, and then the same happened when Virat Kohli did the same thing when he was more into his 100 than adding value to the team (against South Africa).”
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