Australian captain Pat Cummins is winning everything on and off the field and as successful a 2023 as he had, the pacer ended the year with another feat - another Test series win as skipper and a second 10-wicket haul for his side in the longest format of the game. Cummins, who won a World Test Championship, a World Cup and retained Ashes, has put Australia in the forefront of world cricket once again and not just on the field, even in the press conference, he continued to win hearts.
After Australia took a 2-0 unassailable lead in a three-match Test series against Pakistan, the team's Director of Cricket Mohammad Hafeez admitted that his side made a few mistakes too many but also mentioned that they were the better team in those four days at the MCG.
"We played better cricket as a team. I'm proud of that. The way the team had the courage to attack this game in the best possible way. If I sum up the game, the Pakistan team played better than the other team in general. Our batting intent was better, and while bowling, we were hitting the right areas. Yes, we made some mistakes that cost us the game but as a team I believe that there were a lot of positives, enough to win the game but unfortunately at the end we didn't win the game," Hafeez said at the post-match press conference.
Hafeez faced flak for his ridiculous statement and the reporter put a question in front of Cummins later on regarding the same. The reporter asked for Cummins' reaction on Hafeez's statement and the Australian skipper said, "Cool... [laughs]. Yeah, they played well. Glad we got the win." On being insisted by the reporter to say something more, Cummins added, "Doesn't really matter, does it? It's the team that wins at the end."
Watch the video here: (From 2:24)
Pakistan had a better outing at the MCG compared to the first Test in Perth, however, it wasn't enough as a dropped chance, a poor shot selection or one bad phase with the ball kept pushing the visitors back despite them having Australia under the pump for several periods in the match. Pakistan will hope to avoid a whitewash in series finale in Sydney starting January 3-7.
