T20 World Cup Warm-Up Matches 2022: Day 1 - Round-Up

Cricket fans were entertained by some quality cricket played in the ongoing warm-up matches of the 2022 T20 World Cup on October 17 (Monday). All eight teams who have already qualified for the World Cup including India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan were in action. 

The first match of the day was played between the home team Australia and India as the Men in Blue fought till the end and won the match by just six runs. For team India, batters KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav stroked fifties with the bat.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled excellently as he took two crucial wickets for his side, but all the limelights were grabbed by pacer Mohammed Shami who took three wickets and inflicted one run out in his first and last over of the match.

For Australia, pacer Kane Richardson took four wickets. The Australian skipper Aaron Finch scored an outstanding 76 runs off 54 balls. Glenn Maxwell also scored 23 runs for his side. 

South Africa beat New Zealand in a one-sided match

The second match of the day was a one sided-affair as the Proteas side completed a resounding victory over the Blackcaps. The Kiwi side could not even cross the 100-run mark in its allotted 20 overs with Keshav Maharaj starring with the ball for Africa. The left-arm spinner took three wickets for his side in just three overs. 

In reply, the batting team chased down the total with nine wickets to spare. Batter Rilee Rossouw stroked an excellent unbeaten fifty with the bat with Reeza Hendricks (27 runs) and Aiden Markram (16* runs) playing their part as well. 

England and Afghanistan won their matches comfortably

Pakistan was taking on England in their warm-up game in a 19-over match. England won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling first. Team Pakistan was without its permanent openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. 

As a result, batters Shan Masood and Haidar Ali opened the proceedings from the Men in Green. The top four batters of Pakistan including Masood (39 runs), Haider (18 runs), Shadab Khan (14 runs), and Iftikhar Ahmed (22 runs) got starts with the bat, but none of them managed to play a big knock for the team. 

A late blitz from Mohammad Wasim ensured that his team reaches 160 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, and Liam Livingstone scalped one wicket each for the Three Lions. 

Chasing 161 to win, England had a poor start with the bat as both openers Philip Salt and Alex Hales got out in single figures. However, an excellent counter-attack from the English batters meant that the Pakistani bowling line-up was blown away.

Senior batter Ben Stokes smacked 36 runs off just 18 balls. Livingstone (28 off 16 balls), Harry Brook (45 runs off 24 balls), and Sam Curran (33 off 14 balls) also showed their class with the bat. After stroking 26 runs in the first innings, Wasim also took two wickets for the Men in Green.

Afganistan trounce Bangladesh

The final day of the match was played between Afghanistan and Bangladesh as the former completed a thumping victory over their opponents. Batting first, Afghanistan scored 160 runs, thanks to Ibrahim Zadran (46 off 39 balls) and the skipper Mohammad Nabi blazing 41 runs off just 17 deliveries. 

In reply, Bangladesh finished their innings with 98 runs. Mosaddek Hossain was the highest scorer for the batting team as he stroked 21 runs. Pacers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Fareed Ahmad Malik ran a riot on Bangladeshi batters as they scalped five wickets between them with their team winning the match by 62 runs.