ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan Test cricketers believed Brisbane’s tense day-night Test match on Monday will be more remembered for Pakistan’s gallant fightback rather than Australia’s nervy 39-run victory.

“I don’t think Pakistan have lost it; it [the defeat] has given a new lease of life to Pakistan’s Test cricket,” ex-Test captain and wicket-keeper Rashid Latif told The Associated Press.

Man-of-the-Match Asad Shafiq defied all the odds and scored a resilient 137 as Pakistan was bowled out for 450, falling 40 runs short of Australia’s gigantic 490-run target.

“Unbelievable and it shows Test cricket is real cricket,” Rashid said. “Brisbane will be more remembered for Asad Shafiq and the way Pakistan tailenders batted.”

Rashid said the Gabba wicket didn’t break enough even on the fourth day, which suited Pakistan’s style of batting.

“The wicket eased out for batting which gave encouragement to Pakistan batsmen, but I was surprised that it didn’t break enough, which neutralized Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.”

Like millions of other Pakistanis, legendary batsman Javed Miandad was also not expecting such a rearguard from Asad and Pakistan tailenders.

“Nobody could have expected Pakistan to come so close,” Miandad told AP. “But our team is like that, we can be zero one day and suddenly heroes emerge the next day.”

Pakistan’s World Cup winning captain Imran Khan also hailed the team’s fightback.

“Great fightback by Pak in Brisbane led by gutsy Shafiq. There’s no shame in losing when team fights to the last ball. They have made us proud,” he tweeted.

Published in Dawn December 20th, 2016