Shadab leads Pakistan as Australia bat first in World Cup warm-up match

Published: 08:10 PM, 3 Oct, 2023
Sports
Shadab leads Pakistan as Australia bat first in World Cup warm-up match

 

Vice-captain Shadab Khan will lead Pakistan as Australia won the toss and decided to bat first in their warm-up match of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Indian Hyderabad on Tuesday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Babar Azam may take the field to bat only while wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan will rest in this match and Mohammad Haris will keep the stumps.

"He is okay but Babar wanted a rest," said Shadab. “Babar and Rizwan are resting but I am the captain and will make him [Babar] work hard [laughs]. We lost the last game but would want to win today, winning is a habit."

WORLD CUP SQUADS

PAKISTAN: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad WasiM

AUSTRALIA: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey(w), Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Matthew Short, Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Travis Head, Adam Zampa

The ICC World Cup will start from Oct 5 in India and Pakistan will play its first match against Netherland on October 6 (Friday).

Today’s warm-up match will be held in the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, only days before Pakistan and Australia respectively kick off their World Cup campaigns.

Pakistan lost to New Zealand in their first warm-up match last week, and there was no result possible in Australia’s match against the Netherlands due to rain.

The match will begin at 2pm local time in Hyderabad. Both teams will undoubtedly want to give as many of their players as possible practice before the start of the tournament, so all members of each playing squad are expected to participate, apart from Travis Head, who is still recovering from a broken hand.

Mitchell Starc will hope to carry on his good form from Australia’s previous match against the Netherlands, where he took a hat-trick with the new ball before rain curtailed the game.

In the first warm-up match, the New Zealand had edged out Pakistan by five wickets in Hyderabad. The winner side had chased down Pakistan's 345 in their opener.

Babar Azam factfile

Factfile on Pakistan captain Babar Azam ahead of the Cricket World Cup which gets underway in India on Thursday:

Name: Babar Azam

Age: 28

Playing role: Batsman

International ODI career

Matches: 108

Runs: 5,409

Highest score: 158

Average: 58.16

100s: 19

50s: 28

-- The world's top-ranked ODI batsman, Babar is captain across all three formats and has amassed more than 12,500 international runs, boasting multiple centuries in each category.

His staggering ODI average of 58.16 betters even that of India superstar Virat Kohli while his 19 centuries for Pakistan is just one behind the all-time best set by Saeed Anwar.

Babar is also Pakistan's biggest run-maker in T20 internationals and boasts the highest score of 122 in the format.

Despite failing to get out of the group stage at the 2019 World Cup, Babar shone as he became the fastest Pakistan batsman to reach 3,000 ODI runs.

Against Bangladesh, he broke Javed Miandad's record of most runs in a World Cup by taking his total to 474 in eight innings.

In May this year against New Zealand, he became the fastest man to make 5,000 ODI runs, the mark coming in his 97th innings.

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