World Cup 2023: Warner, Marsh stand makes mincemeat of sloppy Pakistan as Australia claw back with second straight win

Australia and Pakistan appear to be travelling in opposite directions in the 2023 ICC World Cup after getting off to contrasting starts.

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The Aussies got their campaign underway with back-to-back defeats in what has been one of their worst starts ever in the showpiece event, with their 134-run hammering against South Africa raising serious concerns about the Pat Cummins-led side’s ability to challenge England’s title defence.

Pakistan, on the other hand, weren’t exactly convincing in their first two outings, both of which took place in Hyderabad, but managed to get two Ws to their name regardless with one of them involving a record chase. With four points on the board, Babar Azam and Co’s chances of reaching the World Cup semi-finals for only the second time in this millennium and the first time in over a decade appeared fairly strong.

Pakistan, however, have hit a roadblock, starting with a familiar World Cup defeat against India, while Australia have slowly managed to shake off the rust and catch up with them on the points table with consecutive wins. The most recent of which came against the 1992 champions at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, where the World Cup caravan arrived for the first time.

Warner, Marsh punish Pakistan for their sloppiness

It is no secret that the Chinnaswamy is one of the most dreaded places on earth for a bowler. And at a venue where totals in excess of 200 are fairly regular in the Indian Premier League, one has to make every opportunity count both with the ball as well as on the field.

Pakistan and Australia have arguably been two of the worst fielding sides so far in the tournament. And in Saturday’s fixtures, it all came down to which side dropped more chances and committed more misfields.

Read | Top moments from Australia vs Pakistan

It was ultimately a dropped catch by Usama Mir early in the Australian innings that would have the single biggest impact of the game, and could even be described as a turning point.

Mitchell Marsh began on an attacking note by smashing Shaheen Afridi for a straight six in the very first over after Pakistan opted to bat. The left-arm pacer, however, would respond with a much tighter set of deliveries next up, one of which nearly got rid of Davey Warner early on.

Warner got a thick top-edge off a short delivery, and would have been preparing to tuck his bat under his arm and make the slow march back to the dressing room when Mir fluffed one of the easier opportunities a fielder can get.

Both Warner and Marsh managed to see off the remainder of Afridi’s early spell before taking the attack to Pakistan’s quickest option in Haris Rauf. Warner used the extra pace on offer to collect a four and a six off successive deliveries, the second one a magical shot in which he managed to scoop a straight delivery onto the advertising panel of the Chinnaswamy roof over deep backward square.

 

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Marsh followed it up with a hat-trick of fours in the same over, which ultimately cost Rauf 24 runs, and the momentum was now firmly in the Aussies’ favour.

Warner was also instrumental in setting the tone early on in the Australian innings. While Marsh was hitting the ball more cleanly, and a fair portion of his runs were coming in boundaries, Warner was scoring at a much faster clip than his partner, helping maintain Australia’s run-rate above the seven-an-over mark for a majority of their partnership.

A lot of that quick scoring rate came down to Warner converting the ones into twos, and the twos into threes with his ability to thread gaps that remains as fresh as ever.

Warner would bring up his fifty in 39 balls with a boundary off Mir that also brought up the century opening stand, and would maintain a similar pace to collect the next 50 as well, consuming another 46 deliveries before bringing up his 21st ODI ton.

Stats | David Warner, Mitchell Marsh register multiple records

“Stand with Marsh was awesome. Once we got the pace of the wicket, we tried to set it up for the incoming batters. Committing and batting my skills was pleasing. Had a good hit yesterday. It helps when you hit it off the middle, and playing on this ground as well.

“Marsh and I tried to bat till 35 and we thought we could go big in the back half. We need to work on going big at the end though. It’s what you do as a team. Every run’s valuable. Part of my DNA is running fast between the wickets,” Player of the Match Warner said after the game, emphasising on his running between the wickets.

Birthday boy Marsh would bring up his century on the very next delivery to mark one of the most wholesome moments of what has otherwise been a mixed Australian campaign so far.

The pair would eventually add 259 runs on the board before Marsh and local favourite Glenn Maxwell fell on successive deliveries. Warner, though, would keep going even as wickets slowly started to tumble at the other end, going past the 150-mark for the seventh time in the format, and for the first time in four years, before becoming the first of Rauf’s three wickets of the day.

The platform for a 400-plus total, however, had been laid by the Warner-Marsh pair and it was the humongous opening stand that ultimately would prove to be the difference between the two sides. It was a solid response from the Aussie opening pair which was under immense pressure after failing to click in each of their previous three outings, where they failed to cross 30.

Pakistan would eventually stage a comeback late in the game as Afridi and Rauf combined to trigger a late collapse from the Aussies, ‘restricting’ them to 367 in the end. And openers Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq managed to get Pakistan off to the kind of start that would have given Australia something of a scare despite having a sizeable total on the board.

The Pakistanis, however, needed one massive partnership to stay alive in the contest and pull off another record chase in the tournament, and their failure to do so would ultimately cost them a second game in as many outings.