Mitchell Marsh Scored 121 Runs From 108 Deliveries Smashing 9 Sixes And 10 Fours
ODI World Cup 2023– Australia and Pakistan are playing each other in an important clash at Bengaluru, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl first. Australia gave Pakistan a target of 368 runs. They scored 367 runs for nine wickets in 50 overs.
For Australia, both its opener batsmen scored centuries. David Warner scored 163 runs and Mitchell Marsh scored 121 runs. Apart from these two, no other batsman could touch the 25-run mark.
Marcus Stoinis scored 21 runs. Josh inglis contributed 13 runs. Marnus Labuschagne was out after scoring eight runs and Steve Smith was out after scoring seven runs. Pat Cummins scored six runs and Mitchell Starc scored two runs.
Glenn Maxwell and Josh Hazlewood could not open the account. Aiden Zampa scored one unbeaten run. Shaheen Afridi took maximum five wickets for Pakistan. Haris Rauf got three successes. Usama Mir took one wicket.
Pakistan’s fielding performance was subpar during the match. David Warner received a lifeline as early as the 5th over when he was caught by Usama Mir off Shaheen’s delivery, having scored just 10 runs. Despite this initial opportunity, Warner went on to score a century.
In the 33rd over, Abdullah Shafiq dropped a catch off Usama’s delivery, with Warner then playing on 123 runs. Furthermore, in the 35th over, Pakistan’s captain, Babar Azam, missed a catch of Steve Smith at slip, with Usama again bowling.
When Warner tons up, he goes LARGE #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/0eoRA0TEF5
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 20, 2023
Mitchell Marsh marked his 32nd birthday in grand style by smashing an ODI century in the very same match, making him the sixth player in ODI history to accomplish this remarkable feat on their birthday.
Notably, Marsh is the first Australian cricketer to achieve this milestone. He also joins the exclusive club of players who have scored a World Cup century on their birthday, following in the footsteps of Ross Taylor.
The partnership between Warner and Marsh, which exceeded the 200-run mark, represents Australia’s fifth instance of a 200-plus run partnership in World Cup history, putting them on par with India for the most such partnerships in the tournament’s storied history.
After the first inning while talking to broadcasting team Mitchell Marsh said, “Very nice birthday present, I feel like I have played a lot of cricket on my birthday and never got over 10.
Nice to contribute, that partnership with Davey was awesome. We know this can be a high-scoring ground, I have played here a lot, I have missed out a lot, it was nice to cash in today.
Pakistan bowled pretty well in the powerplay, we sort of cashed in later. Probably would have liked a few more, but I thought Pakistan bowled really well. Our communication and connection today as a partnership was fantastic.
There was a little period they bowled quite well, especially their spinners, we tried to take it deep, we knew that our time would come. Davey was fantastic, awesome fun to have that partnership with him.
I tend not to celebrate too hard, there was a fair bit of emotion on that one today, World Cups are always special. Hopefully we get another win on the board. There’s certainly enough in the wicket, hopefully we can get some swing and put them under pressure with early wickets.”
Australia will have to bowl well to defend the total as Pakistan has already chased down a record breaking target in World Cup history against Sri Lanka earlier in the tournament with Rizwan scoring a great century.