Rauf still had the pace to create extra bounce on a surface that remained faithful throughout, with Marnus Labuschagne’s attack all the way to third man. The next delivery drew Glenn Maxwell into an attempted push first, the ball kissing the edge on its quick journey to Mohammad Rizwan. Australia had lost three wickets for no runs, in five balls, and Pakistan were back and looking favorites in a country where they have had minimal success.
“We all did our best, whether on the pitch or with the ball,” Rauf said after the match. “We had a plan to play short on my side. We had some success; we took a few wickets that way.”
Rauf lamented some of Pakistan’s negligence. They distributed 21 extras; Australia had conceded only four. Rauf himself sent a leg so far down and at such a high rate that he ran four more fours, while Naseem Shah bowled five more. Mohammad Hasnain, meanwhile, sent two wides well over the batter’s head in the same spell as he took Australia’s seventh wicket, and the pressure immediately returned to the visitors.
“We handed out extras, but when you attack you have to accept that these things happen,” Rauf said. “We made some mistakes and we were a bit messy. We know those little things have an impact. If you are a good bowling unit, you can cover for batters who are short by 20 to 30 runs if you tighten up on the pitch we could have defended that too and we all tried very hard. The match didn’t go our way but we didn’t give up in terms of energy and effort.
“We have memories on this ground that we remember. We lost a few very close matches here against India and the World Cup final,” Rauf said. “We have made mistakes in the past, but we try to stay in the present moment. The future is also not in our control and we enjoy the present. Sometimes the outcome does not suit you and you have to ‘accept that. And then you try to learn from those failures.
