Pakistan’s leg-spinner Usman Qadir has openly blamed former PCB technical director Mohammad Hafeez for his exclusion from the national team.
Speaking on a local YouTube channel, Usman claimed that former T20 captain Shaheen Afridi had assured him of selection for the New Zealand series in January based on his recent performances in domestic cricket.
“Shaheen told me that if I perform well in T20s, they will pick me for the New Zealand series. With Allah’s help, I showed good performance, taking 5 wickets in one match and a total of 13 wickets in 8 matches. I was hopeful of a comeback into the national team, but I didn’t receive any call and the team was announced without my name in the end,” Usman explained.
He accused Hafeez of advocating against his selection, claiming that this interference has affected his career and hinted that the former technical director had likes and dislikes for certain players.
“So, if you have personal preferences and performance doesn’t count, then I am quite far away from getting selected,” he remarked while referring to the former PCB technical director.
The 30-year-old further hinted at his strained relations with current skipper Babar Azam as he refrained from making any comments about whether he discussed his role in the team as a leg-spinner with the Pakistan captain or not.
He suggested that personal relations might have played a role in his absence from the squad, insinuating that his interactions with Azam were minimal these days even though the two of them are good friends.
So far in his international career, Usman Qadir has played 25 T20Is and also has a single ODI cap to his name while picking up 29 wickets with an economy rate of 7.95 as a leg-spinner.
