Australia’s 2023 ODI World Cup campaign gained further momentum on Friday after they beat Pakistan by 62 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium to register their second straight win of the tournament.
Put in to bat first, openers David Warner and Mitchell Marsh showed no mercy on the Pakistan bowlers from the start. The seamers were not helped by Pakistan’s fielding as Warner was dropped on 10 by Usama Mir, brought in for vice-captain Shadab Khan.
Warner made them pay for what proved to be a costly miss.
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If Warner had some luck going his way, then Marsh played a chanceless innings.
Mir’s selection seemed to have backfired after he was taken to the cleaners in his opening spell, going for 50 runs in five overs.
Warner and Marsh reached their hundreds in successive deliveries and kept the pressure on the Pakistan bowlers as Pakistan captain Babar Azam opted for a diet of spin through the middle.
A 400+ score looked very much on the cards for the Aussies before Shaheen Shah Afridi was reintroduced into the attack and he broke the 259-run opening stand by taking out Marsh on 121.
Warner was still going strong, but when he fell for 163 the Pakistani bowlers, especially Afridi, derailed the innings in the final overs and restricted Australia to 367 for 9 in their 50 overs.
Chasing a mammoth 368 runs for a win, Pakistan got off to just the start a team needs to track down a total of this nature with Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq putting on 134 runs for the first wicket.
The tide, though, started shifting soon enough after medium-pacer Marcus Stoinis removed both openers in the space of 13 balls and the match was back in the balance.
Adam Zampa then got the key wicket of Azam for 18, caught superbly at short mid-wicket by Pat Cummins and the match had started to tilt in Australia’s favour.
Pakistan’s in-form batter Mohammad Rizwan was joined Saud Shakeel in the middle and pair began the rebuild. The duo combined caution with aggression and kept the side in the chase, but Cummins returned to the attack, with 16 overs left, and removed Shakeel for 30, caught by Stoinis at cover to nudge Australia further forward in the match.
The Men in Green needed a quickfire cameo to push them ahead in the game and Iftikhar Ahmed looked like playing that knock, taking Cummins for two sixes in the 37th over. But Zampa came back two overs later to remove Ahmed for 26 and the chase was now in Rizwan’s hands.
Zampa continued his impressive showing and removed Rizwan for 46 with nine overs left and the chase took a swift downward turn from that point, leading to Pakistan falling short in the end.
Brief Scores: Australia 367 for 9 (Warner 163, Marsh 121; Afridi 5-54) beat Pakistan 305 all out (Imam 70, Shafique 64; Zampa 4-53).
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