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Ricky Ponting has tried to cushion the pain for Pakistan following their SCG batting meltdown by saying plenty of international sides would have succumbed to the pressure.
Mohammad Yousuf’s men went to water chasing 176 for victory in the second Test on Wednesday, losing their final four wickets for six runs as they tried to slog their way to victory.
“So it just goes to show how hard chasing runs in Test cricket is,” Ponting said.
“…Pakistan are not the only team that would have done that today either, a lot of other teams around the world would have folded chasing at the SCG late in the game.”
Troubles in their homeland has meant that Pakistan have played precious little Test cricket in the past couple of years.
And that lack of five-day experience became evident in their batsmen’s inability to keep their heads late on the fourth day.
Not surprisingly Yousuf was gutted by his side’s effort and saved the harshest word for his own performance.
“My shot was very pathetic and turned the game,” he said of his fiercely hit return catch to Nathan Hauritz.
“We are professional and we have to perform. We need to be to take the pressure, especially me who is very experienced player.
“They are all young. I have to take them and carry the team. We need more discipline and more patience. We need more batting sense. We didn’t show that.”
Yousuf shrugged off his side’s catching woes with Kamran Akmal’s calamitous performance behind the stumps arguably costing his side a series-levelling win in Sydney.
“It is tough to drop catches and win the game,” he said.
“We’ve dropped a lot of catches in last two months.”
He said young quick Mohammad Aamer was a good chance of recovering from a groin injury to play in next week’s third and final Test in Hobart.
There were questions raised about Pakistan’s defensive field settings to Hussey and Siddle that allowed them to comfortably pick off singles throughout the morning session.
“It sort of dragged on for a long time with the way they went about it,” said Ponting.
“I can understand how they started this morning.
“But when it was apparent that Hussey and Siddle were probably doing it as easily as they were, there were probably some opportunities to change things up a little bit.”
THRILLING FINISHES IN THE PAST THREE SCG TESTS
Jan 2008: One of the most highly-charged Tests in living memory finished in highly dramatic circumstances. With India in sight of a draw, part-time spinner Michael Clarke snatched victory for Australia by claiming the final three wickets in five balls in the second last over of the game.Jan 2009: With South Africa becoming the first touring side to win a Test series in Australia since 1992-93, Mitchell Johnson restored some pride for the home side by knocking back the stumps of injured skipper Graeme Smith with ten balls to play.
Jan 2010: Trailing by 206 runs on first innings, Mike Hussey and Peter Siddle put on a record-breaking ninth wicket stand of 123 as Pakistan were set 176 for victory. Some inspired catching, reckless Pakistani batting and fine bowling from Nathan Hauritz (5-53), Mitchell Johnson (3-27) and Doug Bollinger (2-32) allowed Australia to pull off a memorable 36-run win.
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