Pakistan's Mohammad Hafeez recently appeared on the Club Praire Fire podcast, where he engaged in a freewheeling chat with former cricketers, Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan. Hafeez spoke about Pakistan cricket and his stint as the team's director, which was short-lived; he joined the side ahead of the side's tour of Australia in November 2023, but poor results saw his role end just three months later.

The former Pakistan captain made concerning revelations about his time with the senior men's squad, stating that there had been no fitness test in the side in the build-up for the 2023 ODI World Cup. Babar Azam was the captain of the side during the competition, but left the role following a poor campaign where Pakistan finished fifth. The batter, however, was reinstated in the role ahead of the T20 World Cup, where the side faltered in the group stage with a shock defeat to the United States.

“When I retired from this team, I ticked all the boxes of fitness. If I could do it at the age of 41, then why can’t the others? As I joined the team as Director, I noticed the fat percentage of the players had gone up, and the running ability went down. I asked the trainer what had happened. Why the players aren’t able to go through the tests?" Hafeez questioned in the podcast.

“He revealed a very shocking fact that the last management asked him to put the fitness equation out and let the players play how wanted to play till the World Cup 2023," he continued.

"I was like, why didn't you resign straight away if you feel like someone is asking you not to do your job? Just say that this is not the way to deal with international cricketers, so he said, I can't do anything because at that time, whatever management said to me, I followed their directions. That was why we were struggling in the final innings of the Test series against Australia. We looked fatigued because we were missing that fitness level," he concluded.

Even as Hafeez made the revelation, another former Pakistan captain – Salman Butt – wasn't too happy. He criticised Hafeez for going public with his revelations on an international platform, and insisted that he should've brought the change during his time as a team director of Pakistan.

“Maybe, he is saying as it is. But whose job was it to ensure that? You are complaining about your team's matters on international platforms. You were team director. It was your job to pick the right people,” Butt said on a YouTube show, Cricket Baithak.

“You picked those people who, on their own, may never be there. You didn't take fitness tests. Who stopped you? Or should I call it incompetence or lack of control? They were your juniors. You couldn't take the tests?”

Butt's attack on Hafeez

The former Pakistan skipper further mentioned that Hafeez was too late in his outburst, and further claimed hypocrisy on the decision to call back Mohammad Amir.

"You're ranting to Adam (Gilchrist), 'I wanted to do this and do that, but they didn't listen to me. I was the team director'. For god's sake, what were you trying to do? No one leaves their job until they're sacked. Now, you go to an international platform and start complaining there. Why didn't you say that when you were here?

“Why didn't you ask for more power and backing? I don't know what to agree with or what not to. When someone else played Amir, he was a criminal. But it's fine when you call him yourself.”