BENGALURU: Pakistan batter Babar Azam scored a breezy 90 against Australia while Iftikhar Ahmed sparkled at the top of the order with an 83 but the 1992 world champions could not prevent a 14-run defeat in their World Cup warm-up game in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

The Australian batsmen also enjoyed a good outing earlier, as Glenn Maxwell (77), Cameron Green (50 not out), Josh Inglis (48), David Warner (48) and Marnus Labuschagne (40) all fired and helped the five-times champions post 351-7 in 50 overs.

Babar was the pick of the Pakistani batsmen during the chase smashing 11 fours and two sixes on a batsman-friendly wicket but he retired after facing 59 balls and the Asian side ran out of steam despite a classy 50 by Mohammad Nawaz late on.

Pakistan folded for 337 to hand Australia the victory, but both teams will be pleased with their batsmen heading into the showpiece tournament that gets underway on Thursday.

“The result is not important,” said Pakistan’s stand-in skipper Shadab Khan. “We took a lot of positives. Our attitude was good. The result not in our hands.

“I think our 11 is sorted, we wanted to give time to the bench to show their skills. When you play against Australia and New Zealand, you get confidence.”

Pakistan face the Netherlands on Friday.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins said he was pleased with his side ahead of their opener against India on Sunday.

“We’re looking in better frame. Mitchell Marsh bowled well, same with Maxwell and Mitchell Starc,” Cummins said. “Just about everyone contributed in the middle, Green and Inglis were brilliant at the end.”

In another warm-up match, Afghanistan beat Sri Lanka by six wickets on DLS method in Guwahati as opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a blistering century.

Gurbaz smashed 119 off 92 balls with the help of eight fours and nine sixes while first drop Rahmat Shah added 93 off 82 as Afghanistan chased down the 257-run target after rain reduced the second innings to 42 overs.

Earlier, veteran Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi took four wickets to bowl Sri Lanka out for 294 by the 47th over. The lion’s share of Sri Lanka’s total was through a Kusal Mendis’ 158 off 87 balls — a knock studded with 19 fours and nine sixes.

The warm-up contest between India and the Netherlands was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to persistent rain at Thiruvananthapuram and denied the hosts a workout before their tournament opener.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2023