"How the hell can he say Pakistan were the better side?" - Ian Chappell lambasts Mohammad Hafeez following his claim after 2nd Test

Former Australian captain Ian Chappell blasted Pakistan director Mohammad Hafeez after the latter claimed that the visitors were better despite the defeat in the second Test in Melbourne.

After a see-saw battle saw Australia pull off a 79-run victory, Hafeez felt his side played better cricket on the field and rued some costly mistakes like dropped catches and technology errors.

While talking to Wide World of Sports ahead of the third Test in Sydney, Chappell asserted that the Australians were ahead of their opposition and rubbished Hafeez's comments.

"If you took any notice of Hafeez, their manager and an ex-player, you're mad," Chappell said. "How the hell can he say Pakistan were the better side? For starters, you've got a bloke at first slip ( Abdullah Shafique) who can't catch much and he's dropped catches that have really impacted the series."

Chappell added that he feels the difference in the class of the bowling attacks makes Australia substantially better than the Shan Masood-led side.

"Pakistan haven't got a bad attack, it's not in the class of Australia's, but it's always gonna struggle when blokes don't hang onto catches. Their batting is always dicey, the bottom part of the order can be blown away in a hurry. I would suspect that things will go pretty similarly to how they have in the first two matches and Australia will be too good," Chappell added.

The Melbourne defeat was Pakistan's 16th consecutive in Tests on Australian soil, leaving them down 0-2 in the three-match series.

Pakistan are currently struggling in the final Test of the series at 141/5 in 39 overs after winning the toss and batting first.

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"Been impressed with the way Pakistan have played at times in this series" - Mark Taylor

Pakistan were competitive in the second Test at MCG despite the result.

Another former Australian captain, Mark Taylor, contrasted with Ian Chappell and stated that Pakistan had been impressive in the series that could have easily been 1-1.

Following a demolition in the opening Test by 360 runs, Pakistan fought tooth and nail before falling away at the fag end of the second fixture to lose by 79 runs.

Taylor also expected Pakistan to give the Aussies a run for their money in the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

"I've actually been impressed with the way Pakistan have played at times in this series," Taylor told Wide World of Sports. "I'll be surprised if they don't come once again ready to play - if they had held their catches at the MCG, this series could have easily been 1-1.

"They have not been a long way off the pace in this series … they had every bit of good of that game at the MCG as Australia did. I'd be taking a lot of positives out of that from a Pakistan point of view and hopefully they hang onto their catches a bit better."

However, considering the poor start with the bat and the bowling attack missing Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan will have to play out of their skins to avoid a series whitewash.

The series is Shan Masood's first as Pakistan Test captain after Babar Azam relinquished the role from all formats after the 2023 World Cup.