Daily Times

Pakistan’s run of Test losses in Australia has stretched to 15 but interim coach Mohammad Hafeez believes his side have the talent to beat their hosts during the final two matches of the series.

On Sunday, red-hot favourites Australia sealed a 360-run victory with more than a day to spare in the series opener at Perth’s Optus Stadium. A century from David Warner set Australia on the path to victory on day one, and they never looked likely to surrender the upper hand.

Pakistan were left to rue missed chances when fielding in the first innings, and an inability to meet the demands of a tough wicket in their second stint at the crease.

Australia rolled the tourists for just 89 runs in the second innings – Pakistan’s third-smallest total in any Test in Australia. “We made plans for the team, but unfortunately, as a team, we couldn’t execute it well. There’s no excuse for that,” said Hafeez. As they look to the second Test at the MCG, Pakistan will clearly need more from star paceman Shaheen Afridi and batter Babar Azam.

The towering Afridi struggled to hit 140km/h with the ball in Perth, while Azam, ranked the fourth-best Test batter in the world by the ICC, managed only 35 runs across two innings. But Hameez says playing to their full potential, his side can match it with Australia from the Boxing Day Test onwards.

“I’ve seen during the preparation the amount of talent these guys have,” he said. “There is no doubt they can beat Australia here in Australia. “But obviously as a team we need to execute our skills.” Hafeez stood by his decision to blood two debutants, Aamir Jamal and Khurram Shahzad, in the bowling attack rather than play a frontline spinner.

Specialist tweaker Abrar Ahmed was unavailable with the leg injury suffered in the Prime Minister’s XI match, and back-up Noman Ali needed more time to recover from a cut on his finger.

“(Ali) was also not ready to play at that time,” he said, adding his side’s only option was to select spin-bowling all-rounder Agha Salman, who took 0-122 through 40 match overs.

“I was very much satisfied with the selection.”