Former India batter Abhinav Mukund made an accurate prediction to bring an end to what looked to be a potentially record-breaking opening partnership between Australian batters David Warner and Travis Head at one point in time. Playing his first match of the tournament, Head, in particular, didn’t consume any time before adjusting to conditions.
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With New Zealand captain Tom Latham opting to bowl first in Dharamsala today, both Warner and Head made intentions pretty clear by smashing pacer Matt Henry (1/67) for 22 runs in the third over of the match. Introduced as a first-change bowler in the seventh over, pacer Lockie Ferguson (0/38) wasn’t far behind on the back of conceding 19 runs in the first of his three overs.
With Australia scoring 118/0 in 10 overs, they registered the highest score by a team in a powerplay in this World Cup. To prove their domination, Warner and Head smashed as many as 10 sixes in this period. A 175-run partnership, second-highest opening partnership for Australia against New Zealand, saw the left-handed duo falling short of Adam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh‘s 189-run effort in 2000.
As a result, New Zealand were desperate for wickets upon watching the sight of the Australian openers snatching the match away from home them within the first hour itself. It was around this moment when former Indian batter Aakash Chopra uploaded a prediction on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Chopra, who was hoping for Ferguson to apply breaks to Warner and Head’s stand, was proved wrong.
Mukund, meanwhile, replied to the same tweet to predict how Glenn Phillips‘ part-time golden arm could lessen the Black Caps’ woes on a pleasant morning at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.
“Think Glen Phillips should be brought on for the wicket,” read a part of Mukund’s post on X.
Bowling his fourth over, Phillips proved Mukund right on the back of dismissing Warner in the 20th over. With the off-spinner bowling round the wicket, Warner had moved towards the leg-side in order to play a drive. However, all he could do was offer a straightforward return catch to the bowler. Warner, who scored a hard-hitting 81 (65) with the help of five fours and six sixes, missed out on a third consecutive century.
A few overs after sending Warner back to the pavilion, Phillips further brought his team back into the match by bringing an end to Head’s fourth ODI century. Wanting to play a quicker delivery through the off-side, Head witnessed the ball hitting the stumps. Head, who scored 109 (67) at a strike rate of 162.68, became the fifth Australian batter after Trevor Chappell, Geoff Marsh, Andrew Symonds and Aaron Finch to score a century on World Cup debut.
David Warner And Travis Head Have A Tendency Of Forming Solid Opening Stands
It is to be noted that David Warner and Travis Head had opened the batting for the first time in this format six years ago. In 12 innings as opening partners, they have amassed 1,175 runs at a tremendous average of 97.91.
It is needless to say both of them have never cared to compromised on the strike rate in the process. Readers must note that a run rate of 9.13 as a pair this morning is the highest for any opening 150+ opening stand in the history of this format.
Just the second opening pair after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to combine for more than two 250+ partnerships in ODIs, Warner and Head have added 150+ runs for the third time together. Speaking particularly of Australian openers, only Aaron Finch & Warner (5) and Gilchrist & Waugh (3) have done the same in the past.
Having shared a 269-run partnership against England a year ago, Warner and Head had put on display the highest partnership for any wicket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
