Simon Doull trolls Hafeez & Malik; calls them “80-year old in two bodies”
Former New Zealand pacer turned commentator, Simon Doull, has made a controversial remark on veterans Shoaib Malik and Mohammed Hafeez ahead of Pakistan’s much-awaited Super 12 clash against India at the T20 World Cup 2021.
Ahead of Sunday’s (October 24) marquee encounter in Dubai, Doull believes there should be no place for Malik and Hafeez, who are aged 39 and 41 respectively, together in the Pakistan line-up given their ageing bodies and declining fitness.
The commentator feels Malik and Hafeez playing would be a case of an “80-year-old running around in two people” and that could cost Pakistan important runs in the outfield against their arch-rivals, whom they have never defeated in a World Cup clash.
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Simon Doull has backed Mohammad Hafeez to play ahead of Shoaib Malik against India.
Simon Doull wants Pakistan to pick only one of Hafeez and Malik
The ex Kiwi speedster thinks if Pakistan are to select any of Hafeez and Malik, it should be the former because he is in much better form with the bat and is capable of delivering some crucial tight overs with the ball.
“Babar and Mohammad Rizwan at the top; Fakhar Zaman at three; Hafeez and Haider Ali. I don’t think they can play Hafeez and Shoaib Malik together. You don’t need an 80-year-old running around in two people. That can’t happen,” Doull was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.
“I just don’t think they can play two 40-year-olds on the same team so I will go with Hafeez and Haidar Ali. [Then] Asif Ali, Imad Wasim definitely then Shadab, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi.”
Further dwelling on the Malik versus Hafeez debate, Simon Doull explained why he would rather pick the latter in his team. The New Zealander cited the recent edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) to justify his point, stressing how even though both the gents struggled in the tournament, Malik’s form looked woeful and alluded to the fact that there is a greater decline in his abilities.
“I watched them both in the CPL and, I mean, I have got to say Shoaib Malik was really bad. Really bad. Eyes were gone, [he was] really struggling. I know he had one really good innings in the [National T20 cup] but I just watched him enough in the CPL to think I just couldn’t have the two of them in the same team.”
“They both struggle to get going early on so they have to make that choice. And because Hafeez can bowl a bit still, that’s why I would go with him,” he concluded.
Hafeez made 179 runs from his 7 innings of CPL 2021 with a strike-rate of just 102.28 – which is bad, but Malik performed even worse, scoring only 67 runs from his 10 innnings with a strike-rate of 59.82. Malik was not originally part of the Pakistan squad for this T20 World Cup, before he made a last-minute entry as a replacement for injured Sohaib Maqsood.