We went there with positive intent but unfortunately, sometimes results don’t come as per your expectations.
Azhar Ali
Pakistan had outperformed Australia last month and suffered heavy defeats in both the T20I and tests. This prompted Azhar Ali to declare that “our pride was violated”.
Pakistan was defeated 2-0 in the T20I series and also suffered great defeats in the tests. There were defeats in the inning in Brisbane and Adelaide.
Ali, the test captain, said that Pakistan’s pride has suffered a defeat in Australia. “We are a proud nation of grilling and our pride has definitely been hurt,” he told reporters on Friday, December 6. “We did our best to prepare and went there with positive intentions, but unfortunately sometimes the results do not work out as you expected.”
Pakistan had opted for a young bowling attack at the tests and phoned 16-year-old Naseem Shah and 19-year-old Musa Khan. But David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne were on song and showed their inexperience.
Nevertheless, Ali said the experience would benefit the players for the future. “The bowling attack was young and could not do as expected, but the world still talks about it today,” he said. “They have pace and with a bit more experience they will be great for Pakistan in the future.”
Australia sweep series 2-0!
— ICC (@ICC) December 2, 2019
Josh Hazlewood's over yielded the last two wickets and Pakistan are bowled out for 239.
The hosts win by an innings and 48 runs.#AUSvPAK SCORECARD 👇https://t.co/hynzrUEFTm pic.twitter.com/0o0mTdZ8kG
The captain himself struggled in the tests and scored 35, 5, 9 and 9 points in his four games. He acknowledged that he had not been the same since returning from a knee injury. “It’s true that my shape is not the same after a knee injury,” Ali said. “But I passed the whole fitness test, I do the whole sprint and that is not the only reason.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s not that the ball does not hit my bat, or when I’m at the kink, my legwork does not work, unfortunately, it does not work, I know I need running. [Be it] captain or Any other player can not play without performance. “
Pakistan’s next assignment is home to Sri Lanka, an important one as it will signal the return of Test Cricket to Pakistan after a decade.
Azhar Ali believes Babar Azam's game will go to another level after the recent #AUSvPAK Test series 👀 pic.twitter.com/ObhAZARZTm
— ICC (@ICC) December 2, 2019
“The next series is against Sri Lanka, which is a significant occasion for all of us, and all players will play their first friendly match in Pakistan,” he said. “Sri Lanka is playing with full power and we have to play cricket very well to beat them.”
The two-test series between “Pakistan vs Sri Lanka” will begin on December 11 in Rawalpindi Pakistan.
