Australia Regain Mojo, Defeat Pakistan by 62 Runs

Scintilating tons by David Warner and Mitchell helped Australia cruise past Pakistan as they entered the top four teams in the points table.

(Cricket News) After two back-to-back losses at the start of their campaign, Australia have begun to look like the Australia of old with two back-to-back dominant wins. A few days ago, they were in the 8th position in the points table. After beating Sri Lanka and Pakistan, they have jumped to the 4th position, with chances of qualifying for the semi-finals favoring them.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to field first, considering the batting-friendly pitch of the Chinnaswamy and the dew factor. However, Pakistan did not get off to a favorable start as they wasted a review in the very first ball and Usama Mir dropped David Warner on single digits. This drop proved to be costly, as Warner ended up scoring a scintillating 163 of just 124 deliveries.

Mitchell Marsh also had a great day out with the bat, following his fifty against Sri Lanka with a valuable hundred. The duo of Warner and Marsh registered the 6th highest partnership in the ODI World Cup, stitching a mammoth partnership of 259 runs. Shaheen Afridi drew the first blood by dismissing Mitchell Marsh. Out came Glenn Maxwell, with fans chanting ‘RCB, RCB’, only for Maxwell to get dismissed by a duck.

Every Australian batsman came and went, with David Warner staying at the crease. Warner reached his 150 score and was later dismissed by Haris Rauf on 163. The Pakistan bowling attack did well to contain Australia. At one point, Australia were set to cross 400, but the Pakistan bowlers restricted them to 367-9. Shaheen Afridi was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan, picking up a five-wicket haul by taking top-order wickets and cleaning up the tail.

End of first innings: Australia 367-9; David Warner 163 (124); Mitchell Marsh 121 (108); Shaheen Afridi 10-54-1-5; Haris Rauf 8-83-0-3.

Pakistan started their chase on a high as the Pakistani openers were not allowing the required run rate to go above 9. Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq scored their fifties with a strike rate above 100. After 21 overs, Pakistan were 134-0 in 21 overs. The chase was on.

Marcus Stoinis got the much-needed breakthrough for Australia, getting the set openers out. After the two openers went, no Pakistan batsman scored a fifty. Babar Azam’s poor run in this World Cup continues in this World Cup as he was dismissed on 18. Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel gave a fighting comeback to the Aussies, but Adam Zampa and Pat Cummins put a stop to that.

The Australian bowlers ran through the Pakistan tail, dismissing them for 305 in 45.3 overs. This victory propelled Australia to the 4th position, as they are back in contention for the playoffs.

End of second innings: Pakistan 305-10; Abdullah Shafique 64 (61); Imam-ul-Haq 70 (71); Adam Zampa 10-53-0-4; Marcus Stoinis 5-40-0-2.