Australia’s David Warner and Mitchell Marsh put on a masterclass in power-hitting against Pakistan as the five-time champions posted a daunting total of 367-9 in their World Cup group game on Friday.
Warner entertained the crowd with a blistering knock of 163 off 124 balls while Marsh walked off with a career-best 121 as the pair combined for 24 boundaries and 18 sixes while Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up five wickets.
Pakistan won the toss and put Australia in to bat but skipper Babar Azam’s hopes of picking up early wickets quickly evaporated when Warner and Marsh went all guns blazing to put on a 259-run opening stand.
Pakistan lost a review for lbw when Warner faced the first ball of the innings from Afridi while the fast bowler saw Usama Mir put down a routine catch at mid-on when the Australian had scored 10.
From then on Warner and Marsh punished the Pakistan bowling attack, taking advantage of the flat wicket and short boundaries at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Haris Rauf conceded 24 runs in his first over as the bowlers experimented with line and length to no avail, while Warner and Marsh notched up their centuries in the 31st over.
Afridi had contained them before the early onslaught but even he was not spared as Marsh welcomed him back for his second spell with a straight six to bring up Australia’s 250.
But Marsh fell to the fast bowler as Mir made amends with a catch at short fine leg, while Glenn Maxwell was dismissed for nought the next ball when he skied his shot to Azam at mid-on.
Warner denied Afridi a hat-trick in the first ball of his next over but Steve Smith fell cheaply for seven when he was caught and bowled by Mir.
Rauf had gone for 65 runs in 4.1 overs before he finally got Warner caught in the deep when the opener looked to clear the long-on boundary.
The Australian received a standing ovation from the crowd and handshakes from the Pakistan players as he walked off with his seventh 150-plus score in ODIs.
However, Australia then collapsed with Marcus Stoinis making the next highest score (21) as Afridi finished with figures of 5-54 when he cleaned up the tail.
