(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] The partnership between Australia openers David Warner and Mitchell Marsh was like poetry in motion. The duo broke several records against Pakistan in the 18th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, played at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.
After losing the toss, Warner and Marsh together accumulated 259 runs and made a mockery of the Pakistan bowling with their power-hitting. The 259-run partnership between the openers became the third-highest opening stand for Australia in ODIs and the second-highest after Steven Smith and Warner’s 260-run partnership in ODI World Cups.
It also became the sixth-highest partnership in ODI World Cups for any wicket. Additionally, Marsh and Warner registered the highest opening partnership for Australia in the World Cup history.
Both openers, Warner and Marsh, scored their 21st and second ODI hundreds respectively in Bengaluru against a pale-looking Pakistani bowling lineup. It was the fourth occasion that both openers of a team registered a hundred in a World Cup game. Moreover, Marsh became the second player to hit a World Cup ton on his birthday after Ross Taylor’s 131* versus Pakistan in in 2011.
Australia got off to a flyer while batting first, smashing 82 runs in the first 10 overs, which is their highest score ever recorded in the powerplay in an ODI World Cup, surpassing their 80/0 in the 2003 final against India at the Wanderers, Johannesburg.
Notably, Warner now has five World Cup centuries and also achieved his fourth successive hundred against Pakistan in ODIs. However, Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi created an early chance, but Usama Mir dropped a sitter at mid-on when he was batting on 10, which proved to be costly for the Men in Green.
Australia, at the end of the first innings, managed a score of 367, which is a bit low for their liking as they at one stage were eyeing for more than 400 runs after getting a magnificent start from the openers.