PAK vs AUS: Pakistan Played Better Cricket - Mohammad Amir Backs Huge Claim Of Mohammad Hafeez

Former Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Amir applauded the Shan Masood-led side for their brilliant fight in the second Test against Australia at MCG. He believes that Pakistan played better cricket than the opposition and it was hard luck for them in the game 

Pakistan had a great chance to script history and win their first-ever Test in Australia in a long time. However, it couldn’t happen as they failed to cash on the crunch moments and suffered a disappointing 79-run loss to go 2-0 down in the series. 

Pakistan, who faced a 360-run loss in the first match, made a solid comeback and put Australia under pressure. The Shan Masood-led even outplayed the hosts in some phases of the game and were even looking favorites to win the game and level the series. 

Pakistan were going neck to neck with Australia till the last innings. However, they failed to finish off the game on high and came under pressure. In the first innings, they bundled out the opposition for 310 runs and then in response made 264 runs in their first innings. 

Pakistan then were all over Australia with the ball in the second innings as they had reduced them to 16/4 and then bundled them out for 262 runs to set themselves a target of 316 runs to chase. Despite having a torrid start with the bat in the second innings, the Shan Masood-led side kept everyone excited. 

Skipper Shan Masood (60), Babar Azam (41), Saud Shakeel (24), Mohammad Rizwan (35), and Agha Salman (50) tried their best but failed to carry on the starts they got. At one stage, they were going great but lost wickets at crucial stages. They were bundled out for just 237 runs and lost the game by 79 runs. 

Mohammad Amir believes that Pakistan were in a great position to win the game. He also lauded skipper Shan Masood for his leadership and added that the southpaw will be a great captain for the team. Taking to his Twitter account, he explained: 

“Hard luck to Pakistan team They played better cricket in this match. I think bht acha chance tha Australia se Australia me match jeetne ka.but I must say @shani_official is going to be a great captain for Pakistan.”

hard luck to Pakistan team .they played better cricket in this match. I think bht acha chance tha Australia se Australia me match jeetne ka.but I must say @shani_official is going to be a great captain for Pakistan ??.

— Mohammad Amir (@iamamirofficial) December 29, 2023

Notably, Mohammad Hafeez had made a similar kind of claim, stating that the Shan Masood-led side played better cricket than Pat Cummins & Co. at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“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.”

AUS vs PAK: There were a lot of positives – Shan Masood after Pakistan’s loss to Australia 

Skipper Shan Masood opened up about the loss his side faced in the second game against Australia. He believes that with the way his side played, there were a lot of positives but was quick to admit that they gave a ‘sniff’ to the Australia side. 

He added that they are happy with the way played the game and want to play like this going ahead. Shan Masood while speaking after the game stated: 

“We have to look at the bigger picture. There were a lot of positives. We can easily be like, ‘what if we did this, what if we did that?’ That’s all and part and process of the game. There were a lot of positives but if you give a quality side like Australia a sniff, which we did, maybe sometimes with the bowl, maybe sometimes with the bat, yesterday maybe in the field we dropped someone in form like Marsh, we might not have been chasing so many today. 

“Mistakes happen. In terms of the bigger picture, this is the way we want to play Test cricket. Playing Test cricket in these conditions, fighting till the end, where a result was possible for us, that’s something we have to take forward as a team. It’s a reflection of four days, the game kept turning. Sometimes it’d go Australia’s way, sometimes ours. We were fortunate to win the toss and have the best of the bowling conditions.” 

Pakistan will now be seen in action in the third Test against Australia. The match will take place at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 3rd January.