Ready to take credit but unwilling to take accountability. That’s how Pakistan cricket is run. Tweets and photos when the team wins, but total silence when they lose. These aren’t meaningless words from an unknown journalist, but comments made about a former Pakistan captain.
Mohammad Hafeez has accused the Pakistan cricket leadership of failure to take responsibility when the team fails. The comments come after Pakistan was knocked out of the T20 World Cup 2026, after failing to beat Sri Lanka by a margin of 65 runs in Pallekele.
“Let me put it to you like this: who’s going to go and actually want to work for Pakistan cricket now? Everyone would want to, if they’re given respect, if they’re given authority. But if you’re running things with job-seekers, all the evidence from the past is coming out, this won’t get fixed by job-seekers… You need a character. And that character has to come from within the leadership. Leadership isn’t about taking credit, it’s about taking responsibility,” Hafeez said on Tapmad.
Power with no accountability
Hafeez took an indirect dig at the current Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Mohsin Naqvi. The cricket supremo in Pakistan flew to Doha, Qatar, in November 2025 after Pakistan’s Rising Asia Cup team beat Bangladesh in the final. He presented them with a trophy in person.
But why isn’t he in Sri Lanka now? Hafeez asked. The PCB chief is in front of the cameras when Pakistan wins a T20I series at home, but disappears the moment they aren’t winning. He challenged Naqvi and others in power to accept their failure instead of pinning everything on the team management and players.
“Those people who go around posing for pictures after a win, where are they today? Will they accept this failure? Will they come forward and say, ‘Yes, we took the decisions, and we made mistakes’? No one will do that. It’s never happened. Blame will be shifted. For me, the real issue is this: you’ll only move towards success when you accept your mistakes. The first step towards success is acceptance of failure — acknowledging, ‘Look, I’m making mistakes here. I’m not getting it right. I will resolve the issues I have.’ That acceptance is not there. It’s not coming from the administration, and it’s not coming from the players either,” he added.
