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Pakistan allrounder Shoaib Malik says his country must learn from its disastrous tour of Australia, particularly the batsmen.
Pakistan’s two-run defeat to Australia in Friday night’s Twenty20 match at the MCG was another opportunity missed by the tourists, who left for home on Saturday morning.
The result ensured a summer whitewash by Australia, who won the three Tests and five one-dayers before they fought back well to pip the reigning world Twenty20 champions.
Malik, who captained the side in Shahid Afridi’s absence on Friday night, bemoaned his side’s inability to back up their good bowling performance, as they bowled Michael Clarke’s side out for 127.
But Kamran Akmal, with 64 from 33 balls, and his brother Umar (21) were the only batsmen to fire, and even the latter holed out at the start of the final over when his side was still a chance to win. Pakistan finished on 9-125.
“You always learn from your mistakes and whenever we tour Australia we always learn from here,” Malik said.
“We have to do some hard work on our batting.”
Pakistan can justifiably look forward to getting home after three months on the road – they played against New Zealand before landing in Australia – but their homecoming is unlikely to be the most welcoming.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has already organised a committee to investigate the tour’s failings, and it will also probe Afridi’s two-game suspension for ball tampering, in the last one-dayer in Perth.
Pakistan’s next international commitments are two Twenty20 games against England this month, before the world Twenty20 championships in the Caribbean, which starts in April.
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