I think Aamer Jamal should have bowled earlier, it was captain’s call: Mohammad Hafeez

With 130 runs to defend in the final innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground, skipper Shan Masood turned to Sajid Khan and Hasan Ali to begin the proceedings. Aamer Jamal, who has been outstanding in his debut series with the ball, was kept on hold and wasn’t introduced in the first session at all. This has brought a lot of criticism to Shan Masood’s way, as team director Mohammad Hafeez too expressed his surprise at the decision.

Hafeez clarified that it was completely the captain’s call but believes that Jamal should have bowled earlier. He backed the newly appointed skipper and explained that Sajid started with the ball as the surface offered some turn.

“It's up to the captain. All bowlers were available but it's the captain's tactic. We wanted to bowl more from the offspinner because this track can offer a lot from the far end but the rest is up to (Masood). Tactically, I think Jamal should have bowled earlier, but inside the field, the captain is the best judge so you have to back that up,” Hafeez was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

We learned hard lessons: Hafeez

Hafeez believes that the team couldn’t grab their chances in the three-match series, and because of the same, they lost all the matches at the hands of Australia. He is happy with how some of the players fared in the series and believes that the team didn’t deserve to lose 3-0, and the scoreline could have been different if the players had taken their chances.

“We learned hard lessons. As a team, we had our moments but we couldn't grab those. We perhaps didn't (deserve) 3-0, as a team I think we did some really good things this series, but we couldn't win the crucial moments of the game and that's the reason for the 3-0. We lost the series, but watching the talent of the players is what made me say we could compete right from the start. We've seen some glimpses of it. There were certain moments in these games that we should have grabbed because they can make a difference, especially in Melbourne when they were 16 for 4. It could have been a situation where we needed to chase just 140-150 but it ended up above 300,” Hafeez said.