Melbourne, Australia

Shortly after Pakistan lost the Boxing Day Test to Australia at MCG by 79 runs, team director Mohammad Hafeez said his side ‘played better cricket than the home team. Unlike how it panned out in the curtain-raiser in Perth, Pakistan played out of their skin in the fourth innings, with Salman Agha and Muhammad Rizwan putting up handy contributions while chasing 317. 

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Before the visiting team could stage an unreal chance of breaking the deadlock of winning a Test Down Under, the Aussie captain Pat Cummins pulled off a brilliant spell to help his team win the match and series.

As Pakistan needed 98 to win with five wickets in hand and both Salman and Rizwan looking settled in the middle, the momentum changed in the final half an hour when skipper Cummins' deadly spell saw him pick ten wickets in the game, five in each innings triggering a collapse. 

Showing solace with his team after a fighting performance in Melbourne, Hafeez said Pakistan played better cricket than Australia, and he is proud of the unit.

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“We played better cricket as a team,” Hafeez, the Pakistan team director, said. 

“I'm proud of that. The way the team had the courage to attack this game in the best possible way. If I sum up the game, the Pakistan team played better than the other team in general. 

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“Our batting intent was better, and while bowling, we were hitting the right areas. Yes, we made some mistakes that cost us the game but as a team, I believe that there were a lot of positives, enough to win the game but unfortunately in the end we didn't win the game,” Hafeez added.

Babar is a better slip fielder than Abdullah

Pakistan opener Abdullah Shafique endured a troubled outing without his bat during the MCG Test. While he could contribute an aggregate of 70 across two innings, Abdullah came under the scanner for dropping sitters in the first slip in both innings.

Dropping Warner in the first innings didn’t turn out to be hefty, but putting down Mitchell Marsh in the next did, as the Aussie batter made most of the chance and hammered a brilliant 96. 

Backing Abdullah despite those two blunders that perhaps took the game away from Pakistan, Hafeez said,

"We saw Abdullah wasn't feeling comfortable out there. As a team, you always back your teammates if something is not going well for them. 

But we made this decision thinking if he's not feeling comfortable, Babar is a better slip fielder, so why not make the change? He should take the lead and go to first slip. I think that also worked out very well for me as a director because I could see the right person was doing that job. Obviously, Abdullah is also a good fielder, but he wasn't feeling confident in the slips,” Hafeez said.

Meanwhile, Sydney will host the third and final Test of the series, starting on January 3.