Hafeez denies he failed bowling assessment test at a PCB lab

Hafeez, 36, remained a permanent member of the national side in all three formats due to his ability to open the innings and bowl useful off-breaks until his bowling action was declared illegal by the ICC last year.

Muhammad Hafeez said he himself had informed the team management about his fitness issues during the England tour.

Experienced batsman Muhammad Hafeez has dismissed reports that he had failed a bowling assessment test at the Pakistan Cricket Board’s biomechanics laboratory in a university in Lahore.

Hafeez also made it clear that he had informed the PCB two weeks back that he was ready to take the ICC’s bowling assessment test to confirm whether his bowling action could be cleared for international cricket.

“I don’t know from where these stories have come but I never gave any official test at the biomechanics lab in LUMs and I just went there with the PCB’s analysts to see how my modified bowling action worked under different 3D cameras and angles,” Hafeez said on ‘ Geo Super’ channel.

Hafeez was not picked in the Pakistan squad for the two Test matches in New Zealand after reports said that he had not cleared the bowling assessment test carried out at the LUMs laboratory.

Reports said that after he failed the bowling test the national selectors had decided to go with young opener Sharjeel Khan and that the PCB had also decided to not send Hafeez for the ICC’s bowling assessment test until his modified bowling action was cleared in the local biomechanics lab.

Hafeez, 36, remained a permanent member of the national side in all three formats due to his ability to open the innings and bowl useful off-breaks until his bowling action was declared illegal by the ICC last year.

“I was not fit for a while and had to return because of my fitness issue from the England tour. It was due to my fitness issues that I did not opt for the ICC bowling test although the 12-month ban on me bowling ended in July this year,” he said.

Hafeez, who has scored nine Test and 11 ODI hundreds and also taken 52 Test, 127 ODI and 46 T20 international wickets, said he himself had informed the team management about his fitness issues during the England tour.

“I myself told the team management I was having problems with the muscles in my left knee and I returned home for treatment. It is wrong to say I was avoiding taking the bowling assessment test since July,” Hafeez said.

The all-rounder also made it clear that he had avoided bowling in domestic cricket because he did not want to create doubts in the minds of opposing batsmen or the umpires.

“I have been working fulltime on correcting my bowling action with the PCB’s analysts and coaches since I regained fitness last month and I resumed playing domestic cricket.

Right now I am very confident that I can clear the ICC’s bowling assessment test whenever I take it,” he said.

Hafeez also said he was not disappointed or disheartened at being overlooked for the Tests in New Zealand. “Whatever the national selectors or team management decides it is for the best of the team and I can accept that.

"I am playing domestic cricket and I am fit and I will try to get clearance to resume bowling again. Whenever they call me up I am ready for the challenge,” he said.