Before our team landed in Australia, one of their players sarcastically said it is Australia, not Dubai.

This made me shudder and fearful about our team’s performance in a country where playing and environmental conditions were abnormal.

In the first innings the fears came through when Australia scored 490. It was expected that Pakistan would lose the match by a huge margin, justifying the arrogant claims of the Australian player.
The start was such that reinforced the fears of another collapse of our batting. However, Pakistan fought back with style.

So much so that Australia genuinely was pushed back at one stage and all the commentators and experts were contemplating the unthinkable, that is, a Pakistani victory.

We lost the match in the end, but we went down fighting, which has not only bolstered our team’s shattered confidence, but also sent a clear signal to the Aussies not to take our team for granted.

There is room for improvement and we should learn from our mistakes.

Raja Shafaatullah
Islamabad