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Australia secured a commanding victory against Pakistan in the first Test at Optus Stadium in Perth, winning by a substantial margin of 360 runs. The newly appointed Pakistan captain Shan Masood expressed his disappointment after the defeat in his first Test as captain.
Masood acknowledged that the team missed opportunities to score more quickly, emphasising the potential addition of 60-70 runs in the first innings, which could have made a significant difference. He said that he would have been satisfied if someone had said before the game that Pakistan would play 100 overs and Australia would play 110 overs in the match. The batting display during the 31st over of the final innings was particularly dismal as Pakistan was all out.
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“Look when you come to these shores, you look for progress. If you had told us that Australia will play 110 overs and we'll play 100, I'd have taken that. We could have scored quicker and 60-70 runs would have proved the difference in maybe keeping that lead to a sizeable level. Discipline is something we would take from the Australian attack. We took 15 wickets and need to aim for 20”, said Masood.
The 34-year-old commended the performances of the debutants, Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shahzad, expressing satisfaction with their contributions. He said that the team would focus on extracting the positives from their performance in Perth.
Australian batters, especially Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh, played a significant role in establishing a challenging target for Pakistan, despite enduring physical challenges on a deteriorating pitch.
After a humbling defeat in Perth on December 17, Masood emphasised the need for his young bowling attack to learn discipline from the Australian bowlers. The first Test match of the series witnessed Australia's dominant performance, securing a remarkable 360-run victory within four days. Notably, Nathan Lyon achieved a milestone by reaching 500 Test wickets.
“It's never easy when you have two debutants in a four-seam attack. They have a first-class record, and they had a lot of overs under their belt. Aamer's pace was decent and Khurram's accuracy was good. We'll take the positives and they did decently well," said Masood.
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