Mohammad Hafeez said that Pakistan have the potential to make a comeback in their ongoing three-match Test series. On Sunday, December 17, Shan Masood and Co. slumped to a defeat by 360 runs at the Perth Stadium to go down 0-1 down in the series.

The visiting team faltered in their run-chase after getting bowled out for 89 runs in just over 30 overs. Hafeez, who is acting as Pakistan’s head coach for the ongoing tour, said that Pakistan failed to execute the plans that they formulated before the match.

The 43-year-old Hafeez, who played 55 Tests from 2003 to 2018, said that Pakistan made few tactical errors that turned out to be costly.

“I’ve seen during our preparation the amount of talent these guys have. There’s no doubt that they can beat Australia here in Australia. But obviously, we couldn’t do that execution-wise. The plan was there and we prepared accordingly. I still believe that as a team, Pakistan can beat Australia here in Australia, but we must execute our skills when required,” Hafeez was quoted as saying in the post-match press conference.

“We couldn’t execute our skills. We made plans for the team, but unfortunately, as a team, we couldn’t execute our plans. Obviously, the guys wanted to, but they never applied themselves, to be honest. As a team, we made a couple of tactical errors. There were certain situations where we could have dominated. We were prepared, but our execution wasn’t great,” he added.

Pakistan will look to make amends when they face Pat Cummins’ Australia in the Boxing Day Test, starting December 26 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Since November 1995, Pakistan have lost all their 15 Test matches on Australian soil. Hence, it goes without saying that Shan Masood and Co. have a task on their hands to make a comeback.