SYDNEY: Pakistan team director and head coach Mohammad Hafeez rued missed opportunities as the reason behind the side’s 3-0 Test whitewash at the hands of hosts Australia on Saturday.

The whitewash was completed when the visitors were handed an eight-wicket beating in the third and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground before Hafeez — serving his first assignment in the role — spoke in the post-match press conference.

Despite showing glimpses of brilliance and threatening to dominate on several occasions over the course of the series, Hafeez observed, Pakistan faltered when it mattered the most, especially in the field.

“We couldn’t win the crucial moments of the game, which is why the series’ result is 3-0,” said Hafeez. “There were certain moments where we were presented opportunities and we should have grabbed them and it would have made a huge difference.”

One of the more glaring of the missed opportunities in question was that of dismissing the in-form Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh when the side was struggling at 16-4 in the second innings of the second Test in Melbourne.

The right-hander was dropped by Abdullah Shafique in the slips and went on to score 90 odd runs to lift Australia out of danger and in a strong position as they eventually won the match by 79 runs.

In the third Test too, debutant opener Saim Ayub dropped a catch each in both Australian innings, giving the World Test champions an exit route out of pressure as the Pakistan bowlers kept things tight.

“When it was 16-4, we did not capitalise,” Hafeez noted, before adding the Sydney Test woes. “Even here we dropped some of the catches, and I’d say the negative side of the team is our fielding.”

Hafeez put light on some of the positives as well and for him those were the emergence of a number of players that were picked on the series on the basis of their performances in the domestic first-class circuit.

While pacers Khurram Shehzad — who got injured after the first Test in Perth — and Mir Hamza, who played the second and third games, impressed, all-rounder Aamer Jamal stood out.

The right-arm medium-fast bowler finished with 18 wickets in what was his debut Test series and hit a crucial 82 in the first innings of the third Test to help Pakistan post 313.

All three have polished their trade through years of hard work in domestic red-ball cricket and Hafeez said that was the only way to improve for international players.

“We would like to grow as a Test team and that would translate to better performances in all formats,” said the former skipper. “Red-ball cricket is our priority.”

While the new picks shined for Pakistan, the team’s pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi was dropped from the third Test as a workload management measure. The team management was criticised for the move but Hafeez owned the decision.

“We took the decision to rest Shaheen and manage his workload because we didn’t want his body to be adversely affected,” he explained. “In the last one year since his return from injury, he has worked hard, and the workload on him has been massive.

“I don’t know what’s happened previously, but at this time, I wanted to make sure that no bowler’s career is spoiled due to their workload not being managed.”

Hafeez shrugged off the notion that Shaheen was rested because the team was prioritising his availability in the upcoming Twenty20 International series against New Zealand, which will be the pacer’s first assignment as Pakistan’s captain in the format.

The team director also revealed the Pakistan Cricket Board’s correspondence with its Australian counterpart over exchange programs to help players from both teams improve their skillset by visiting each other’s countries.

“We had a meeting with Cricket Australia chairman and CEO,” said Hafeez. “They agreed on our exchange program because we wanted more visiting teams from Pakistan, Pakistan U-19, Pakistan A, and Pakistan Women to visit Australia on a regular basis and similar we can offer the same program to these teams in Pakistan. That will help all the players in future and the agreement will be signed soon.”

Hafeez also urged the International Cricket Council to make Test cricket more incentivised through a uniform salary bracket for players across the international circuit.

“I’ll suggest ICC that the way the way they are promoting T20 leagues all over the world, approving NOCs, similarly to save Test cricket they should introduce standard match fee for all the boards, so that all players of Test cricket nations can have the same match fee.”

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2024