CWC: Australia vs. Pakistan
Jun 12, 2019
Australia had a fantastic first-wicket partnership of 146 runs in 22 overs. They looked like cracking 400 runs at that point but when Warner fell for his excellent 107, the rest of the team fell apart. The Pakistani bowling was poor with one exception: Mohammad Amir became the leading wicket taker of this World Cup by taking five scalps. He now has 10 wickets in 3 matches. It would be funny and sad if he ends up being the leading wicket-taker of the tournament while not even making the semi-finals.
Anyway, let's see if Pakistan batting shows up to chase this or if they crumble like they did in the sorry 1999 World Cup final.
Update
Pakistan scored 266 all out in 45.4 overs. The failures of Zaman, Malik, and Ali hurt them in the end. Hasan Ali and Wahab Riaz showed the middle order how to take risks.
"We probably made more mistakes," was Sarfaraz's candid and accurate assessment of this error-ridden game. "We won a good toss. The pitch was helping fast bowlers. We didn't bowl in the right areas. Until 30 overs, we were just not up to the mark. Batting, little, little mistakes. There was a partnership between Babar and Imam, Babar got out soft, Imam, Fakhar [Zaman] also, the entire top four got out to very soft dismissals."
That's it really and it leads to the simplest truth. You can't afford this many mistakes at any level of any sport, let alone at a World Cup.
Yup. Also, when three batsmen -- Zaman, Malik, and Ali -- score 5 runs combined, then chasing 300+ is nearly impossible.
Next big game? India vs. New Zealand tomorrow.
Next really big game? India vs. Pakistan on Sunday. Big things are expected from Zaman. We know what he's capable of. Pakistan has five games left. If he goes supernova soon, then Pakistan still have a chance.