'Discriminated' Hafeez mulling retirement from cricket

Pakistani batsman Mohammad Hafeez may hang up his bat due to "discriminatory treatment" at the hands of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), claimed DawnNewsTV.

The report came a day after the PCB demoted the right-hand batsman from Category A to Category B in its revised list of centrally contracted players.

The 37-year-old has not taken the shuffling well, DawnNewsTV reported.

"Mohammad Hafeez will not sign the central contract," the TV station quoted a source, as saying.

Due to "discriminatory treatment" the player "cannot continue to keep on playing," the source added.

Backing his claim, the source said that Hafeez had taken a similar decision in past when he decided to withdraw from the fifth one day international against Zimbabwe, last month, after Pakistan coach Micky Arthur dropped him from the first four matches of the five-match ODI series.

The Pakistani player, who was in the PCB's top category contract for quite a long time, was replaced by the latest sensation Babar Azam in the recently revised list.

Hafeez has played a total of 200 ODIs for Pakistan and has made 6,107 runs with an average of 32.83.