A spirited Pakistan performance was not enough on Friday as Australia picked their second win to move to fourth on the table of the ongoing International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2023.
The 18th One Day International (ODI) of the tournament was played between the two sides at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and began at 2 pm. Having won the toss, Pakistan put Australia to bat first.
Buoyed by missed catches, openers David Warner and Mitchell Marsh both scored centuries to put Australia in a strong position. Australia lost their first wicket at 259 runs, already on their way to a huge total. With some contribution from the middle and lower order, the Aussies reached 367 for the loss of nine wickets in their 50 overs.
For Pakistan, Shaheen Afridi picked five wickets and Haris Rauf got three, while Usama Mir picked up a solitary wicket.
In reply, Pakistan could only manage 305 runs even as openers Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq put them in a good position with a strong start. However, since then the Men in Green kept losing wickets at regular intervals as the middle order could not deal with the Australian bowling attack.
Adam Zampa got four wickets and Marcus Stoinis, and captain Pat Cummins picked two, while Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood got a wicket each in the match.
In the end, Australia ran out clear winners even as Pakistan brought the match close. Australia won by 62 runs to move over Pakistan to fourth on the table.
