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Australia recovered from back from back-to-back defeats to blow away Pakistan by 62 runs in their ODI World Cup clash at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on October 20, Friday.
In a riveting run fest, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh's towering centuries helped Australia post a mammoth total of 367/9 despite Shaheen Afridi's five-wicket haul. In reply, despite a promising start in their chase, Pakistan was restricted to 305, being all out in 45.3 overs, thanks to Adam Zampa's brilliant four-fer.
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Meanwhile, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam indirectly blamed Usama Mir for Men in Green's loss. While Australia's batters were in sublime form, Pakistan's fielding only compounded their woes. Warner, on the score of 10, was handed a lifeline as Usama Mir fluffed a straightforward catch at mid-on, off a Shaheen Afridi delivery. This mistake was particularly costly, with Warner capitalising on the reprieve to build a mammoth 163 off 124 balls riding on 14 fours and nine sixes.
In the post match presentation, Babar said if you drop the catch of someone like Warner, he won't spare you.
“Were not up to the mark with the ball. And if you drop the catch of someone like Warner, he won't spare you. This is a big scoring ground, margin of error is very less. Whole credit to fast bowlers and spinners for the way we pulled it back in last few overs. Just tried to hit the length and hit the stumps. Message was simple - we can do it, we've done it in the past. Ball came on well under lights. Couldn't get big partnerships in the middle overs. Need to be better in the first 10 overs with the ball, and better in the middle overs with the bat,” Babar said after Pakistan's defeat.
Regrettably, the fielding errors didn't end there. Usama Mir, in a deja vu moment, dropped Warner yet again in the 33rd over, when he was well-settled at 101 runs. Even the Pakistani skipper, Babar Azam, couldn't escape the fielding contagion, spilling a catch off Steve Smith.
Australia made a resounding comeback after losing their first two matches against India and South Africa. Australia, who were at one stage sitting bottom of the points table, then notched up victories against Sri Lanka and Pakistan to change their fortunes in the ongoing ODI World Cup. Meanwhile Pakistan after notching back-to-back victories against Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
With this win Australia surged to no.4 in the points table with four points in four matches and NRR of -0.195. Notable Pakistan, who were flattened by India in their previous match, too have four points in as many matches but are placed at fifth spot due to inferior net run rate of -0.456.
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