In the wake of Pakistan's 79-run loss to Australia in the second Test on December 29, captain Shan Masood is focusing on the positive aspects of their performance at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Masood urged his teammates to focus on the broader perspective despite the defeat. The resilience and grit shown by Pakistan's top order, including Masood himself, Babar Azam, and Agha Salman, on the fourth day in the second Test were commendable. Yet, the formidable bowling of Australia's Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc was instrumental in clinching the series for Australia, with a game to spare.
Masood remains positive, pointing out the valuable lessons and strengths demonstrated during the match. During the post-match presentation Masood said,"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."
Reflecting on the match's progression over four days, Masood praised his team for their tenacity in fighting until the very end. Cummins achieved a remarkable 10-wicket match haul, contributing significantly to Australia's 79-run victory, which secured them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
"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. We were leading with the bat when me and Abdullah had a good partnership, Pat Cummins came in with that spell and that's why he's one of the best bowlers in the world. In the second innings, Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh's partnership, that put us back again. We have taken 20 wickets which we haven't done in Australia for a while, that's a box ticked," Masood added.
"A lot to work on, but this is the blueprint with which we want to play Test cricket. Hopefully we keep doing that. They are ruthless, you want to convert the fifties into hundreds. That's what we have to do as a batting unit. They have some world-class bowlers in their ranks, if you give them a sniff you might not have enough runs on the board," he further added.
After counting all the positives, Masood didn't mince words from expressing his disappointment on his batters' inability to convert promising starts and half-centuries into centuries, emphasising that this was the approach he expected the team to adopt.
"It's WTC, every Test match counts. Very happy with how we played the game, it's just about the finishing touches and winning the crucial moments like the Australians did in this game. The groundsmen did a wonderful job, one of the better Test pitches that we have played on, something for everyone. Very glad that we got to play such an exciting Test match," Masood concluded.
Pakistan, who only extended their 28-year-long winless streak on Australian soil, will lock horns with Pat Cummins' brigade in the third and the final Test which is slated to commence from January 3.
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