Not much has gone right with the Pakistan cricket team since the ODI World Cup 2023. The team’s poor show in the marquee event saw Babar Azam stepping down as captain while a plethora of other changes were also made in the backroom staff. Mohammad Hafeez was appointed as the national team director, with the bosses hoping for a change in fortunes, but little went as planned, with Pakistan losing heavily on the tours of Australia and New Zealand. Having seen his tenure as Pakistan’s team director ending early, Hafeez has now revealed the ‘tough conversation’ he had with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan during his time in charge.

Babar couldn’t deliver his best with the bat in the ODI World Cup and the same trend followed on the tour of Australia and New Zealand too. Hafeez revealed that he asked Babar to bat at the No. 3 spot for the betterment of the team but it took him two months to convince the former skipper to do so.

“It took me about two months to convince Babar Azam that you have to do it for Pakistan and you are not the first one who’s doing it. You are a great player, you are a wonderful player and you are playing great cricket however you have to develop the Pakistan team. You and Rizwan are very good players, excellent players but you are not the whole team,” Hafeez said on A-Sports.

“We need to develop a team and for that, I want you to come at No. 3 because you have been playing this role in the ODI cricket for the last six years, so it won’t affect you; technically you are very solid. Thank you very much to him that he accepted this and he played for Pakistan at No. 3 which obviously I think is the best way to move,” Hafeez added.

Against New Zealand in the T20Is, Babar took up the No. 3 spot in the team, with Saim Ayub opening the batting alongside Rizwan. Babar scored 213 runs in five matches against the Kiwis, averaging 42.60.