ICC World Cup: Australia Blaze Off To Spectacular Start in Bengaluru

The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 gears up for its next big contest, with Australia taking on Pakistan in the 18th game of the tournament at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Australia openers made the most of Pakistan errors on the cricket field. Shaheen Afridi unleashed a confident leg-before appeal against David Warner off the very first ball of the game. He couldn't convince the umpire, but got his skipper to review the call. It turned out that the batter had a big inside edge, and Pakistan lost the review.

Warner survived another scare in the fifth over, when Usama Mir shelled a straightforward chance on the on-side. In the meanwhile, both the batters managed to take off on a decent batting wicket.

Their best during the first Powerplay came in Haris Rauf's opening over, which was taken for 24 runs. This included a spectacular six from a crouched Warner, which went deep into the stadium. His partner, Mitchell Marsh, finished the over with a hat-trick of boundaries.

Babar Azam called it right at the toss, and elected to field in Bengaluru.

There was one change into the Pakistan side, with leg-spinner Usama Mir coming in place of Shadab Khan. Australia played the same XI that featured in Lucknow.

While Pat Cummins’s men are boosted by the outcome in Lucknow, a loss to Pakistan would be a particularly significant blow to their knockout chances.

And the Men in Green would like to return to winning ways after a below-average outing in Ahmedabad.

A win for either side would propel them into the top four of the points table.

Playing XIs:

Australia: Mitchell Marsh, David Warner, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammed Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Usama Mir.

Also Read: ICC World Cup: Virat's Ton Help India Defeat Bangladesh by 7 Wickets