Australia skipper Pat Cummins opened up after the crucial 62-run win against Pakistan at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, India, on Friday saying that it was tough playing there.
The 30-year-old credited his openers, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh, for setting the tone of Australia’s innings and emphasised on the importance of continuity in one-day cricket.
“That was great. Pretty tough playing here but good to get a win. Proper from the openers, it set the tone and we want to take the game on like that. The key in ODIs is to carry on. You get one breakthrough and it looks tough for the next guy. Batting for long, like our openers did, was great,” Cummins said in a post-match ceremony.
Cummins then went on to talk about Adam Zampa, who gave the Aussies the much-needed breakthrough by removing Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Rizwan in back-to-back overs, saying that he is a wicket-taker.
“Zampa has been awesome. Showed his class, he's a wicket-taker. Babar and Iftikhar were big wickets. We're coming off two wins and have a three or four-day break before the next game. Can take a couple of days off, then get into work. We've set the benchmark in the last two games and gotta keep that going,” he added.
The Aussies managed to restrict the Green Shirts to 305 runs after posting a colossal 368-run target courtesy of a 259-run stand from David Warner and Mitchell Marsh.
Pakistan were off to a great start as their opening duo of Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique had a 134-run partnership — the first time a Pakistani opening pair had a century stand against Australia in a World Cup match.
The Green Shirts kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and were soon all out for 305 runs in 45.3 overs.
Batting first, Australia posted 367 runs on the scoreboard, recording the biggest total against Pakistan in the World Cup.
Shaheen Afridi was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan as the 23-year-old bagged five wickets, his second World Cup fifer.
- Pat Cummins