After Hafeez doing great this year i dunt think PCB wud sit him out in up coming tours.
Now if you need to bring another all rounder in the team, Would you bring Afridi or Razzaq ? Given that Hafeez is also a spinner i think including Afridi will disturb balance of the team here, Hence i wud prefer Razzaq over Afridi. Even Hamad Azam over Afridi.
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Little Back Ground.*
About an year ago Hafeez wasn’t considered such a good all rounder, Afridi as a captain worked hard on phasing Razzaq out hence put Hafeez on charge, Credit goes to Afridi for making Hafeez such a good bowler.
Irony : Afridi in process of keeping Razzaq out created his own replacement (Mohammed Hafeez).
Moral: As you sow so shall you reap. He is sitting out with Razzaq trying to make a come back. Guys who took Oath against younis khan will get punished too if they haven’t so far.
[QUOTE]
About an year ago Hafeez wasn't considered such a good all rounder, Afridi as a captain worked hard on phasing Razzaq out hence put Hafeez on charge, Credit goes to Afridi for making Hafeez such a good bowler.
Irony : Afridi in process of keeping Razzaq out created his own replacement (Mohammed Hafeez).
[/QUOTE]
Hafeez will never be Afridi's replacement for two reasons.
i) Hafeez is a better and reliable batsman than Afridi
ii) Hafeez will NEVER be a good bowler than Afridi
Comparison fails.
and btw Hafeez got his break only because of that crooked Salman Butt's removal from the team otherwise he would not have been recalled or be played consistently.
Hafeez will never be Afridi's replacement for two reasons.
i) Hafeez is a better and reliable batsman than Afridi
ii)** Hafeez will NEVER be a** good bowler than Afridi
Comparison fails.
and btw Hafeez got his break only because of that crooked Salman Butt's removal from the team otherwise he would not have been recalled or be played consistently.
Inzamam said similar thing about Hafeez :D (it was not about his bowling capability though)
Hafeez plays both ODI's and Test.
I think best way to judge a bowler is to open his test stats it tells you everything, unfortunately Afridi doesn't have much in 5 yrs.
Test Matches:
In last 1 year Hafeez played 7 matches took 14 wickets with avg of 22.
Afridi played 1 test in last 5 yrs, got 1 wicket for 69 runs.
So to make comparison better
In last 10 yrs Afridi played 26 matches took 28 wickets for avg over 40.0.
Lets come to ODIs
Is Afridi a spinner or Spin All rounder ?
If spinner than compare him with Ajmal. If spinn All rounder than Hafeez Beats him by a margin in recent year.
Now lets come to Bowling only:
In last 1 year.
Afirid played 25 ODI's (thats including the awesome WC he had) he took 34 wickets for 27.55 and Econ of 4.30
Hafeez played 30 ODIS took 30 wickets for avg 30.57 and econ 4.13
I see a difference but its not so much difference that you can ignore hafeez's batting over Afridi's 3 runs avg difference. The way Hafeez has been bowling his stats will get better in next 6 months.
Hafeez only got a chance as an opener after Salman's removal but Afridi made him a all rounder. That is the comedy here.
Now How many spin all rounders would u want in team ? Razzaq recently has done better with bat and adds a seamer in team. I think Anyone who knows how to Spell cricket wudnt pick Afridi over Razzaq in this situation where Hafeez and Ajmal are part of team. However its highly unlikely that either of them will come back.
Afridi's days are over, unless he comes back in team as an allrounder and performs like one.
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Aren't you reading too much into Hafeez's success against mediocre sides?**
Probably true, but good enough to earn him spot in playing 11.