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Pakistan took on Pat Cummins-led Australia in the 10th and their second warm-up match of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on October 3, Tuesday. The Kangaroos won the toss and invited their Pakistani counterparts to field first, who were coming under the leadership of Shadab Khan for the fixture.
Pakistan's captain Babar Azam, along with Mohammad Rizwan, was rested for the match to manage the workload ahead of their opening game of the tournament on October 6, against the Netherlands. Australia openers David Warner and Mitchell Marsh contributed 48 runs off 33 balls and 31 runs off 48 balls, respectively. The Baggy Greens rode on Glenn Maxwell's innings of 77 runs of 71 balls as well as Cameron Green's 50* off 40 balls to post a mammoth total of 351 runs on the scoreboard.
On Pakistan's side, Fakhar Zaman and Imam Ul-Haq opened their innings and added 22 and 16 runs, respectively. It was Iftikhar Ahmed's 85-baller 83 runs that boosted the confidence of the Men in Green. Apart from Ahmed, Babar Azam had a brilliant 59-baller stay on the pitch. However, Azam was 10 runs short of a century when he retired due to an injury.
While Pakistan were in a good spot to win the match, the Aussies pulled up gears on their bowling and bunched them out at 47.4 overs. The Pat Cummins side, thus, won the match with a margin of 14 runs.
