ISLAMABAD: Pakistan faced a series of losses to the host Australia after suffering a painful 79-run defeat in the second game in Melbourne the other day. The match remained a nail-biting contest till Rizwan and Salman Agha were on the crease, but the unfortunate caught-behind decision of Rizwan turned the game in favour of Australia.
Despite a second consecutive defeat with a series loss, some critics believe the Shan Masood’s led side also received applause for the fighting spirit they put on the Aussies, mostly the hot favorite at home grounds.
Pakistan received a humiliating defeat in the first test in Perth. However, the side played some remarkable cricket in the next game and put Australia under pressure a number of times in the second game.
Pakistan’s Positives in Australia
One of the major positives of the game was that despite several injuries in the bowling unit, Pakistan’s pacers made the critic wrong that they would be unable to dismiss Australia twice in a Test match. However, they managed to do so, particularly dismissing the side on just over 200 in the second inning.
Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, and the youngster fresh edition Amir Jamal and Mir Hamza troubled Australian batters despite being deprived of the first-match striker Khurram Shehzad due to injury.
The second positive was about the new challenge for Shan Masood as the new leader of the team. Being the captain of the Pakistan test side for the first time and again on the Australian pitches was a tougher one. However, Shan stepped up as a leader with a positive intent. He also showed his class with the bat in both games, particularly the second one, while smashing fifties in both innings.
The third positive was the tough time Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha gave to the Aussies, as securing the wicket and scoring runs in the last inning of a test match is a challenging task. However, both the batters took Australia under pressure and were near victory.
Australia was only lucky while taking a review over Rizwan when the ball seemed to touch the wrist of Rizwan. However, at the same time, there was doubt the ball hit the area about the wrist, and that was the reason the field umpire had a not-out decision first.
But still, both the batters played superbly and were close to taking Australia out of the game.
Despite having a defeat, Pakistan’s positive attitude would help the guest side give a tough time to Australia in the next encounter to be played in Sydney.
