Srinagar: Having been vocal about it all along, former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Hafeez has revealed that he considered leaving Pakistan cricket after being forced to play alongside Mohammad Amir in the team after later returned to side.
Mohammad Amir returned to Pakistan side in 2015 after serving five year ban in a spot fixing scandal that happened in 2010 in England. Hafeez was one of the senior cricketers who raised his voice against welcoming a tainted pacer back in the team.
After all these years, having hung his boots, Mohammad Hafeez on a Cricwick podcast, spoke about the incident.
“Imagine standing in a position where you have been told that you can choose to play or not as per your will, but he [Amir] will definitely play. Unfortunately, this was coming from the PCB chairman that it’s upon you whether you want to play or not,” Hafeez said.
“I was genuinely disappointed. I was broken and wanted to leave everything behind because I wasn’t able to absorb this. But my close allies suggested to me that I shouldn’t let my positive energy go for Pakistan. The best way to go about it was to register my protest, statement and sentiments; I wasn’t a decision-maker at the end of the day,” he added.
In Hafeez openly had stated that he would refuse to be a part of the same team as Amir. However, with the intervention of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and senior players within the team, both managed to resolve their differences.