After former cricketer Mohammad Hafeez criticized the heritage of the 1990s and early 2000s stars, Pakistani legend Waqar Younis came out with a strong social media response. Hafeez said in an uncomfortable live television episode that by not winning several ICC events during their times, the stars of the 1990s and early 2000s could not motivate the next generation. “Though I adore ones who played in the 1990s, they left nothing for Pakistan in terms of heritage.”
They did not win an ICC event; they rather lost the 1996, 1999, and 2003 (World Cups of). One last final (in the 1999 World Cup) found us to be terrible. As stars, as players, they were the mega superstars. But then they could not motivate us by winning an ICC event. During a PTV Sports debate, Hafeez said.,—we lost the last (of the T20 World Cup) in 2007 following a trying time we had to go through.
Conversely, Hafeez praised the winning teams of the T20 World Cup (2009) and the Champions Trophy (2017) and Pakistan. He also clarified why fans idolize athletes including Babar Azam.
Under Younis Khan’s leadership in 2009 we won and therefore there was a motivation for the next generation. Then sadly Pakistan cricket suffered a disastrous blow, from which we have yet to pick up. Winning the 2017 Champions Trophy was a great motivation afterwards. Today people idolize Babar Azam because he was there even if he didn’t have a major role in that function. So that thing about winning ICC events, the superstars of the 1990s couldn’t not do, with all due respect to their abilities,’ he added.
Waqar reacted to Hafeez’ criticism of the heritage of 1990s and early 2000s celebrities. Waqar shared his and another great Pakistani Wasim Akram’s numbers on social media, writing “90’s KA LONDA (Boys of 90’s).” He also remarked on the total of Tests, ODI games played, and wickets taken by the pair.
The Pakistan cricket team ended their Champions Trophy 2025 run rather poorly. Though the squad tied points with Bangladesh in their last game of the tournament, they did not emerge victorious in first two of their games against India and New Zealand. Eventually, Muhammad Rizwan’s team ended up. end at the bottom of the Group A table with one point and a negative run rate (NRR) of -1.
Pakistan, not just the hosts of the competition but also the defending champions, ended embarrassingly. Pakistan became the defending champions with worst-ever finish in the event’s history. Their 2013 Champions Trophy score exceeded Australia’s former one point and -0.680 NRR.