Mohammad Hafeez feels Pakistan played "better cricket" in their 79-run defeat against Australia

Pakistan stood in pole position to emerge triumphant when they were 219 for 5 and needed 98 runs for a series-levelling victory as the match seemed poised to be a cliffhanger.

But Australia skipper Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc bowled a fast bowling spell to remember as they took the host to a second consecutive triumph.

After the game, Hafeez who was emotionally charged declared that Pakistan were better and said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo, "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."

At the end of the match, Pakistan could only look at themselves, the number of chances that they missed which let the victory slip right from their hands.

Abdullah Shafique dropped two catches at slip, Pakistan were heavily punished as David Warner and Usman Khawaja added 84 runs on the board.

In the second innings, Shafique was once again at the receiving end as he dropped Mitchell Marsh's catch when Australia were at 46/4. He ended up scoring 96 which majorly contributed to Australia's victory.

"We saw Abdullah wasn't feeling comfortable out there. As a team, you always back your teammates if something is not going well for them. But we made this decision thinking if he's not feeling comfortable, Babar is a better slip fielder, so why not make the change? He should take the lead and go to first slip. I think that also worked out very well for me as a director because I could see the right person was doing that job. Obviously, Abdullah is also a good fielder, but he wasn't feeling confident in the slips," Hafeez said.

"These guys have been training together for the last year. [Abdullah] did a very good job as a slip fielder. Fielding here in different conditions might have disturbed him but I still believe that he's a good fielder. Maybe the confidence went away which, as a slip fielder, can happen. Once that confidence goes away from you, you need a little bit of time away from the role," Hafeez added.

Pakistan will look to walk away with at least a single win as they face Australia in the final Test of the three-match series on January 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. (ANI)