After his team's 79-run loss against Australia in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Pakistan team director Mohammad Hafeez has pointed out 'inconsistent umpiring' and 'curse of technology' as contributing factors to the disappointing result.
The umpire's call, in particular was a bone of contention for Hafeez. "There's always room for improvement in cricket. Umpire's call creates such doubt that it changes the game completely," Hafeez said after the match.
"It favours one team and hurts the other. It has to be changed. If it's hitting the stumps, it should always be out. When the ball hits the stumps, it's always out. How can you have a situation where a ball is hitting the stumps and [it's not out] because of the umpire's call? This has to be looked at," he added.
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A number of umpire's calls went against Pakistan during the Boxing Day Test but the one that would have hurt most is the decision on Mitchell Marsh. The Australia all-rounder scored a game-changing 96 and took the target beyond the visitors' reach, but not before surviving an extremely close call.
Mitchell Marsh was only on 25 when a Hasan Ali delivery rapped him on the pads. The umpire gave him not out and upon Pakistan's review, the ball was deemed to be clipping the off-stump and hence ruled 'not out' by DRS.
"We made some mistakes as a team and we will address those things but at the same time, I believe inconsistent umpiring and the curse of technology gave a result which should have been different. I feel like these are the areas that need to be addressed. Sometimes it feels like it's a technology show, and that we aren't really playing cricket. We played better cricket as a team and we're proud of that," Hafeez emphatically said.
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The former Pakistan off-spinner felt that Pakistan were the "better" team on display and should have gone on to win the Test match. "We prepared ourselves very well. The way the team had the courage to take 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," he said.
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Hafeez added: "This game, we were very close but we couldn't win. We made some mistakes, conceding 52 extras which really hurt us. And then crumbling from 124 for 1 to lose five main batters, that was a crucial moment we couldn't win in the game. And then Australia were 16/4, we dropped a couple of catches that should have been taken.
There were certain moments in the game we couldn't win. If we had taken our chances and won those crucial moments, perhaps this match would have ended earlier and we would have won. But this is the way the game goes; if you make a mistake this game can hurt you."
