Former Pakistan cricket captain Mohammad Hafeez has taken a dig at cricketers from the 1990s, claiming they left no legacy behind as they failed to win any ICC tournaments for Pakistan.
Speaking on a TV program, Hafeez criticised their poor performances in the 1996, 1999, and 2003 ICC events, saying, “We could have won at least one final, but it didn’t happen.”
He acknowledged, “Past players were mega superstars, but they failed to inspire by winning an ICC trophy. Things improved later, and in 2009, we won an ICC event under Younis Khan’s captaincy.”
Hafeez further stated, “If people look up to Babar Azam today, it is because he was part of the 2017 Champions Trophy-winning team, which played a huge role in reviving Pakistan cricket.”
He expressed disappointment, saying, “Unfortunately, cricketers from the 90s failed to fulfil Pakistan’s dream of winning major ICC tournaments.”
Sitting alongside Hafeez in the studio was former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, who was not pleased with the remarks and responded, “Hafeez has generalised all players, but let me remind him—those 73 ODI wins that put us above India today, we were the ones who won them!”
Earlier, former Pakistan captain Salman Butt spoke out against Shoaib Akhtar’s harsh criticism of Babar Azam following his poor performance in the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Earlier, Akhtar had called Babar a “fraud” after the batsman went through a dip in form, blaming him for not leading the team properly.
Known for his blunt remarks, Shoaib Akhtar suggested that Babar’s struggles were not just temporary but a result of deeper flaws in his technique. He also compared Babar to Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli, pointing out that Kohli’s inspiration was Sachin Tendulkar, who had 100 international centuries. Akhtar had said, “Who was Babar Azam’s role model? Let’s not name any cricketer, but he had chosen the wrong role models. His thought process was wrong. He was a fraud from the beginning.”
Salman Butt, who had played alongside Shoaib Akhtar in the past, strongly disagreed with the speedster. He defended Babar, saying that every player went through tough phases, and it was unfair to judge him based on a temporary slump.
Speaking on a private TV channel, Butt said, “Shoaib was one of the best talents Pakistan ever produced, and if he had reconsidered what he said, he would have called it the heat of the moment. But he shouldn’t have said that.”
Salman vociferously defended the beleaguered batsman, saying, “Babar was struggling with form, and more than his technical issues, we had gotten into his head. His talent was superior to that of every other batter we had, and we had even wasted it because of all this criticism. He was not Kohli, he was not Root, and he was not Williamson, but he was the best we had.”
Babar had often been the main target of criticism whenever the Pakistan team underperformed, even though the entire squad struggled.
Interestingly, while Pakistani experts continued to criticize him, cricketing legends from other countries defended him.
