Brian Lara admitted facing my bowling was difficult: Mohammad Hafeez

Pakistan’s veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez is know more for his batting than bowling but he has revealed that left-handers including legendary West Indian batsman Brian Lara has found it difficult to face his off-spin.

The 39-year-old who is aiming to finish his career with “grace and respect” said that Brian Lara, who smashed legendary bowlers around the world to score over 10,000 runs in both the 50-over and Test formats, himself admitted that he had difficulty batting against him.

“Left-handers have always had difficulty facing me. However, I have bowled well to right-handers as well. If you look at my economy rate, it’s the same against both. I dismissed one of my favourite batsmen, Brian Lara, as well,” Hafeez told Geo News.

“He [Lara] also admitted that he had difficulty batting against me. He was a world class batsman and there are very few batsmen who played spinners as well as Lara.”

“In my career, my bowling has supported me a lot. If I was not able to perform with the bat in some match, I used to make up for it with my bowling. I would like to continue my success against left-handers, which is a God-gifted talent, till I am playing cricket,” Hafeez added.

The Sargodha-born all-rounder in his 55-match Test career has taken 53 wickets, while in the ODI format Hafeez has scalped 139 wickets from 218 matches.

Hafeez’s statement is definitely interesting as Test cricket’s highest wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan has found Brian Lara to be the toughest batsman he played against. Shane Warne, who is Test cricket’s second-highest wicket-taker has also never fallen short of praising Brian Lara.

Apart from this stunning revelation, Mohammad Hafeez also expressed his eagerness to play T20 World Cup even if it is postponed to the next year. He said that he is keeping himself fit and performing well to keep himself in the contention for selection.

“I want to retire from international cricket after playing the next T20 World Cup. I hope I am able to end my career with grace and respect. I am keeping myself fit and my performances have been up to the mark in recent years. So If I am fulfilling all requirements of representing the national side, then I am available for selection, even if the event is shifted to next year,” he said.