Pakistan suffered its second consecutive defeat in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 as they were beaten by five-time winners Australia at Bangalore M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday and captain Babar Azam has revealed the reason for the defeat.
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Pakistan won the toss and put Australia into bat under batting-friendly conditions. The decision came back to haunt him as openers David Warner and Mitchell Marsh went all guns blazing to put on a record 259-run stand.
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They bested former cricketers Shane Watson and Brad Haddin’s 183-run stand against Canada in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
David Warner, who scored his fourth consecutive century against Pakistan, top scored with 163 off 124 balls with 14 boundaries and nine sixes to his name. Mitchell Marsh, on the other hand, struck 10 fours and nine maximums on his way to 108-ball 121.
Thanks to blistering their blistering batting display and poor fielding by Pakistan, the side finished at 367-9 in their 50 overs.
In response, Pakistan’s Abdullah Shafique (64) and Imam-ul-Haq (70) laid the platform for the chase with a 134-run opening partnership but the rest of the top order failed to build on promising starts as they were bundled out for 305.
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Spinner Adam Zampa was the pick of the Australia bowlers as he cleaned up the middle order to finish with figures of 4-53 to move Australia up to fourth — level with fifth-placed Pakistan on four points but with a better net run rate.
Babar Azam, in the post-match presentation, blamed the side’s fielding woes for the defeat. He admitted that dropping David Warner twice and dismal bowling performance were mistakes on their behalf.
“The first 34 overs in the bowling and fielding cost us,” Babar Azam said. “We dropped [David] Warner and such batters don’t spare you. This is a big-scoring ground and we missed our mark.”
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Pakistan’s fielding was all over the place as newcomer Usama Mir dropped opener batter David Waner off pacer Shaheen Afridi’s bowling in the first over of the match. The opening batter survived again as he was dropped for the second time in the 33rd over, this time by Abdullah Shafique.
Then, Pakistan captain Babar Azam joined the side’s drop catch club as he put down Steve Smith in the 35th over.
Pakistan will now take on Afghanistan at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium on October 23rd (Monday).
