Pakistan’s exit at the 2025 Champions Trophy has divided the cricket community like a wildfire. Last week, Mohammad Hafeez questioned the legacy of 1990s and early 2000s cricketers, saying they lost mega tournaments despite having great teams.
“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. As stars, as players, they were the mega superstars. But then they couldn’t inspire us by winning an ICC event. Then came a difficult period that we had to go through and then in 2007 we lost the final (of the T20 World Cup).,” Hafeez said on PVT Sports.
After saying this, Hafeez hailed his era by describing the titles won by won by Pakistan in the T20 World Cup (2009) and Champions Trophy (2017) triumph.
He added: “In 2009 we won under Younis Khan’s captaincy and so there was an inspiration for the next generation. 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. So that thing about winning ICC events, this the superstars of the 1990s couldn’t do, with all due respect to their talents.”
However, Pakistan fast-bolwing legend of 1990s, Waqar Yonuis did not like the statement and shared his partner Wasim Akram’s stats on X.
He did write: “90’s KA LONDA (Boys of 90s)”. Younis aslo added Akram’s overall stats in international cricket from runs, wickets, matches played and beyond.
“90’s KA LONDA”
Test – 191
ODI’s – 618
Wkts – 1705
Runs – 8594
5wkts – 66
10wkts – 10#NotBad @wasimakramlive #GoodOldDays♥️ pic.twitter.com/09VaeKbycJ
— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) March 6, 2025At the ongoing Champions Trophy, where India are set to face New Zeland in the final on Sunday, Pakistan did not win a game and went out from the Group stage.
In the previous edition, back in 2017, Pakistan beat India in the final.
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