*Veteran middle-order batsman Mohammad Hafeez has criticised the PakistanCricket Board (PCB) for selecting the players solely on the basis of theirtalent.*

The 40-year-old, during an interaction with the media, urged the board topay attention towards treating a player as a product rather than just as atalent.

“There are talks of the country having a lot of talent,” said Hafeez.“Maybe there is but as far as I have noticed after playing the game for solong, it is not the talent with the bat or ball which matters at theinternational level. It is the product which matters there. We aren’tworking on that.

“In Pakistan, players emerge only on the basis of their talent whereas theydon’t go through the product-making process.”

The Lahore-born cricketer gave the example of India’s cricket structure tosupport his argument. “They played without their regular captain and theirperformance made us happy as fans of the game.

They were dismissed for 36 in the first Test and went on to win the[four-match series against Australia] by 2-1. The main difference betweenus and them is that we field our talented players whereas they developtheir talented players into a product.”

He said that the “talented players” will have a dip in their performancesat some stage of their careers as they have not undergone the completeproduct-making process.

“In my own personal experience, having products at your disposal will bebeneficial because you can only go so far as a talent, to take bigger stepsin difficult conditions and against a tougher opposition, a product isnecessary,” he said.

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