 "Former Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez speaks on the 'OutSide Edge Live' show alongside pace legend Shoaib Akhtar and ex-Pakistan captains Shoaib Malik and Sana Mir. Image credit: Screengrab")
Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez slammed the icon 1990s generation of Pakistani cricketers while seated in front of pace legend Shoaib Akhtar. Hafeez labelled the ’90s generation – which included greats such as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar, Saqlain Mushtaq besides Akhtar and others – as one that was high on star power, but left “no legacy” for the future generations in terms of titles.
After winning the 1992 World Cup under Imran Khan’s captaincy, Pakistan had suffered a quarter-final exit in the 1996 edition that they co-hosted with India and Sri Lanka before finishing runner-up in 1999 following a heavy defeat against Australia in the final. The worst for that generation was to come in 2003, when the team comprising the ageing ’90s stars failed to progress beyond the first round.
‘They couldn’t inspire us’: Hafeez on ’90s stars
“I am a huge fan of those who played in the 1990s but when it comes to legacy, they left nothing for Pakistan. They didn’t win an ICC event - they lost the (World Cups of) 1996, 1999 and 2003. We reached one final (in the 1999 World Cup) and lost that badly,” Hafeez said on OutSide Edge Live, where he was a panellist alongside Akhtar and former Pakistan captains Shoaib Malik and Sana Mir.
“As stars, as players, they were the mega superstars. But then they couldn’t inspire us by winning an ICC event,” he added.
Hafeez added that Pakistan’s triumph in the 2009 ICC World T20 – their first triumph in a global event since the 1992 World Cup – as well as the 2017 Champions Trophy would inspire the next generation of cricketers. The spin-bowling all-rounder was part of the Sarfaraz Ahmed-led team that thrashed India in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy at the Oval in London.
“Then came a difficult period that we had to go through and then in 2007 we lost the final (of the T20 World Cup). In 2009 we won under Younis Khan’s captaincy and so there was an inspiration for the next generation.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Then unfortunately a bad incident happened with Pakistan cricket and we have still not been able to recover from that. Then we won the 2017 Champions Trophy, that was a huge source of inspiration. People idolise Babar Azam today and that is because even if he didn’t play a big hand in that event, he was there,” added Hafeez, who had recently coached the Pakistan team following Mickey Arthur and Grant Bradburn’s exits in January 2024.
Akhtar cites Pakistan’s superior head-to-head record against India in defence
Akhtar, however, defended his generation by citing Pakistan’s superior head-to-head record against India, with the Men in Green still considerably ahead of their arch-rivals in ODIs despite India’s relative dominance in the last couple of decades.
“These 73 one-dayers that Pakistan won against India, it is us who won it,” said the ‘Rawalpindi Express’.
“No doubt, and there has been a very strong legacy since the time of Imran Khan. There was some great cricket played during their time as well,” Hafeez responded.
The comments on the show were made days after Pakistan’s embarrassing first-round exit from the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, the tournament that they are hosting.
The Mohammad Rizwan-led side bowed out of the event after suffering defeats against New Zealand and India, and signed off without a win after their final Group A match , against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, was washed out.