World Cup 2023: Pakistan put Australia to bat first after winning the toss

Pakistan put Australia to bat first after winning the toss in their fourth match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in India’s Bangalore on Friday (today).

For today’s match, Pakistan has made one change, they have rested Shadab Khan and brought in Usama Mir as his replacement.

Pakistan skipper termed the pitch at the Chinnaswamy stadium “good”, sharing his team’s plan is to take early wickets and put Australia under pressure.

He added his side is now confident after a couple of good sessions and time to rest. Babar, however, spoke about the Green Shirts’ need to bat better, as they didn’t perform well against the arch-rivals India.

Meanwhile, Aussie skipper Pat Cummins said his side would have bowled first too had they won the toss, but were also fine with batting.

The Australian captain said that the wicket looked “really good” and spoke about his team’s energy against Sri Lanka during their last win in the event.

Cummins hopes his team will display the same performance against Pakistan as well. “Same side, everyone’s good to go,” he said.

Playing XI

Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.

Australia: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (capt), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.