Hafeez satisfied with team’s performance, defends Razzak’s ouster from semis

Pakistan’s T20 skipper Mohammad Hafeez on Saturday admitted that his team could not live up to the hopes of its fans, but insisted that his players gave their best to reach the ICC World T20 semi-finals in Sri Lanka, before being knocked out by the hosts. Hafeez, along with head coach Dav Whatmore and some other players, returned to Lahore on Sunday, after losing the World T20 semi-final to hosts Sri Lanka by 16 runs, at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Thursday.
After restricting the Jayawardene led Sri Lanka batting line-up to 139 for four in their stipulated 20 overs, the Men in Green fell short by 16 runs, to face a second successive semi-final exit in the global tournament.
Hafeez admitted that the Islanders executed their plans well in the knock out game and deserved a victory.
“We all knew that our people were following the World Twenty20 very closely and wanted us to do well and play in the final. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that and Sri Lanka was the better team in the semi-final,” said Hafeez while speaking to media reporters on his return home.
However, he expressed satisfaction over Pakistan’s performance in the tournament, adding that this was the toughest edition of the World T20 thus far.
“I’m satisfied that the entire team worked hard and gave their best,” said the prolific all-rounder, who was appointed as the national T20 skipper ahead of Misbah-ul-Haq, in May this year.
“This was one of the toughest World Twenty20 tournaments we’ve played in, and every match was very hard. All the teams came well prepared,” he added further.
The 31-year-old top-order batsman has come under severe criticism for not coming lower down the order in the lost semi-final game, as well as for overlooking match-winning all-rounder Abdul Razzaq for the crunch game.
Defending his decision to drop Razzaq in favour of left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir, Hafeez said that the team needed an extra pacer, and it was backed by the team management as well.
About the positive taken from the World T20, the Pakistan skipper said, “We have some positives from the tournament like the performances of Reza Hasan and Umar Akmal and we need to work on our positive points.”