Former Pakistan T20I captain Mohammad Hafeez slammed team management after Pakistan cricket team’s campaign ended in the ongoing T20 World Cup with a five-run victory over Sri Lanka on Saturday. Batting first against the tournament co-hosts, Pakistan managed to score 212 for 8, and needed to restrict Sri Lanka to 147 or below. But it wasn’t to be. Former Pakistan pace legend Shoaib Akhtar also branded the think tank as “completely clueless”. After elimination, knives were out in TV studios for the team management, particularly coach Mike Hesson and captain Salman Ali Agha. “I will sum it up as the end of a painful debacle. Right from the start, the way the Pakistan team was playing was incomprehensible to any cricket critic. But it kept going,” an irate Hafeez said on the Game On Hai show. “I believe this World Cup has totally exposed the Pakistan think tank’s planning. Whatever policy the think tank created and their decision-making process has been exposed. The captaincy (of Agha) has been badly exposed; if you continue with someone who doesn’t even deserve a place in the team, you might see temporary benefits, but you will get stuck in the long run. Furthermore, if you look at the overall skill level of the players, everything has been laid bare before us—where do we stand in modern-day cricket? Where does our batting stand? Where do our bowlers stand?” Pakistan’s captain Salman Ali Agha, left, has a word with teammate Shaheen Shah Afridi during the T20 World Cup cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo) Hafeez then trained his guns on the management. “When I sum everything up, I must say that the decision-makers need to think: is this how Pakistan cricket will run? As cricket fans, we have endured this same pain through four consecutive ICC tournaments—first in 2023, then 2024, 2025, and now 2026. You have evidence from four consecutive tournaments showing that things have gone significantly wrong. To fix it, decision-makers must make choices based on merit. If they don’t, this painful story won’t end. “From what I understand of the current scenario, if you look at the players from the last four ICC events, most of them are the same. A few decision-makers changed, but the decisions made over the last two years have been inadequate for this sport. For me, this is painful. I am sure many of us feel the same way, but we must decide if we want to continue running Pakistan cricket like this. “As I’ve said before, Pakistan’s [international] cricket and the PSL [Pakistan Super League] cannot run together like this. The PSL is a vibrant commercial option, but it isn’t everything. We have to save Pakistan cricket. If we don’t make better decisions for Pakistan cricket, we will only face more pain.”Story continues below this ad ALSO READ | ‘Have shame…don’t call it Pakistan’s team — call it Mike Hesson’s team’: Basit Ali lashes out after Pakistan’s exit from T20 World Cup Shoaib Akhtar: Management looks completely clueless Shoaib Akhtar also slammed the think tank after Pakistan made three changes to their side for the game against Sri Lanka with Abrar Ahmed, Naseem Shah and Khawaja Nafay coming into the XI in place of Salman Mirza, Saim Ayub and Babar Azam. “Pakistan’s management looks completely clueless. Today’s team selection only confirmed that the XI picked over the last 15 days was wrong. There was one clear error — Saim Ayub should have played instead of Khawaja Nafay. Saim could have contributed with the ball as well. This selection showed that when you pick the right players for the right roles, they perform. Fakhar Zaman is a natural opener, yet he hasn’t played earlier. Today, (Sahibzada) Farhan, Fakhar (Zaman) and Abrar (Ahmed) all delivered. That tells you everything,” Akhtar added.
Mohammad Hafeez slams Pakistan think tank: ‘The way team was playing was incomprehensible to any cricket critic’
