The Pakistan cricket team’s fielding woes were once again in the spotlight during their warm-up game against Australia on Tuesday, October 3, ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023. The match, taking place at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, showcased several fielding errors from the Pakistan squad, which led to some humorous banter.
One of the incidents took place during the 23rd over of Australia’s innings. Haris Rauf bowled a short-of-a-length delivery on off-stump, aimed towards deep backward square leg by Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne. Although the ball didn’t seem destined for the boundary initially, a comedic mix-up between Pakistani fielders Mohammad Wasim Jr. and Mohammad Nawaz resulted in an avoidable four runs for Australia.
Shikhar Dhawan couldn’t resist poking fun at Pakistan’s fielding mishaps during the game, taking to Twitter to share his amusement. He tweeted, “Pakistan & fielding, a never-ending love story. #PakistanFielding #PakCricket.”
This incident is just one of many times Pakistan’s fielding performance has been criticized, with previous instances of miscommunication and on-field mishaps having gone viral.
Another incident occurred during the match when Nawaz dropped a return catch from Cameron Green in the 34th over of Australia’s innings.
In this particular match, Australia won the toss and chose to bat first. Notably, Pakistan opted to rest key players such as Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, with Shadab Khan serving as the captain for the day. This decision followed Pakistan’s previous loss to New Zealand by five wickets in a warm-up match.
Pakistan is scheduled to commence their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on October 6th.