Rauf still had the pace to draw extra bounce on a surface that stayed true throughout, with Marnus Labuschagne's leading edge carrying all the way to third man. The following delivery drew Glenn Maxwell into a tentative prod first up, the ball kissing the edge on its speedy journey through to Mohammad Rizwan. Australia had lost three wickets for no runs, in five balls, and Pakistan were back and looking favourites in a country where they've had minimum success.

"We were all trying our best, whether in the field or with the ball," Rauf said after the game. "We had a plan to bowl short from my end. We had success; we took a few wickets this way."

Rauf rued some of Pakistan's sloppiness. They gave away 21 extras; Australia had conceded just four. Rauf himself sent a wide so far down leg and at such high pace it raced away four an extra four, while Naseem Shah bowled another five. Mohammad Hasnain, meanwhile, sent two wides well over the batter's head in the same over he took Australia's seventh wicket, and the pressure immediately shifted back onto the visitors.

"We did give away extras but when you attack, you have to accept that these things happen," Rauf said. "We did make mistakes, and we were a bit untidy. We know these little things make an impact. If you're a good bowling unit, then you can cover the batters falling 20-30 runs short if you tighten up in the field as well. We could have defended this and we all tried really hard. The game didn't go our way, but we gave no quarter in terms of our energy and our effort."

"We have memories on this ground which we remember. We lost a couple of very close matches here against India and the World Cup final," Rauf said. "We've made mistakes in the past, but we try to stay in the present moment. The future isn't in our control either, and we are enjoying the present. Sometimes the result doesn't go your way, and you have to accept that. And you then try and learn from those failures."