The Aussie’s disgraceful run in Asia and the Middle East continued as they were dominated from the outset by Pakistan in Abu Dhabi to suffer a 2-0 series loss and head home with their tail between their legs.
The defeats, an emphatic 356-run one after losing the first by 221 runs, follows a 4-0 drubbing in India last year.
“I think we’ve got to talk about what happened,” a frank Clarke said after the defeat on Monday. “We were hopeful that we’d learnt some lessons from our trip to India, but it doesn’t look that way.”
Clarke admitted he and the team were happy to be heading back to familiar conditions to take on South Africa, England and India in a range of formats.
But he’s steaming at himself after returning from injury for the series.
“I’m probably most angry with myself, most disappointed with my own personal performance,” said Clarke.
Usually Australia’s best player, even in losing sides, Clarke managed just 57 runs in his four knocks.
“I’ve always prided myself on leading by example. I don’t have any excuse for underperforming. That’s probably what burns me most at this moment in time.”
The undisputed star of the series among some excellent Pakistan performers was Misbah-ul Haq who managed centuries in each innings of the Test.
His side are now third in the Test rankings, overtaking England.
“We always had the belief, and which is why we delivered,” said Misbah.
“We knew if we could put up some decent totals, we could bowl them out. As it happened, it was a complete team performance and each member of the team contributed towards the team cause.”
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