“This is a big opportunity for Mir to learn,” Pakistani bowling coach Morne Morkel on debutante Usama Mir’s dropped catch

New Delhi: Australia on Sunday defeated Pakistan to overcome the horrors of their campaign openers and finally managed to break into the top 4 sport of the ICC ODI World Cup 20-23, for the first time.

Australia posted a mammoth total of 367 on the board, giving Pakistan the huge task of chasing 368 runs in 50 overs, and despite getting a good start from the openers, Pakistan couldn’t capitalise on the momentum and ended up losing the game by 62 runs.

However, one particular moment of the match has been pointed out by the netizens, which might have cost Pakistan the match. This particular moment was the debutante Usama Mir dropping David Warner’s catch when the latter was only batting on 10.

Usama Mir dropped a crucial catch that costed Pakistan a lot,So when you drop the catch you drop the match also 💔
POOR CAPTAINCY from #Babar#Captaincy #ShaheenAfridi #Zimbabwe #Australia #Semifinal #Pcb #Warner #AUSvsPAK #PAKvAUS #usmamir #ShadabKhan #Nawazkhan #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/K9GzEfUcTS

— AmAn WaZiR (@Amanahmadzai786) October 20, 2023

How the catch changed the match?

After Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first, they had a golden chance to put the five-time champions under early pressure by dismissing the struggling David Warner early, when the southpaw was only batting at his individual score of 10.

During the fifth over of the match, David Warner tried to free his hand by going over the boundary off Shaheen Shah Afridi’s ball, however, the connection was not as good as the former intended, and the ball became an easy catch for the fielder at mid-on, or what everyone thought so, but the debutante Usama Mir dropped the catch giving Warner a lifeline.

Warner then made the best use of this opportunity and went on to score a prolific 163 runs off of 124 deliveries, which included 14 boundaries and 9 sixes. He also went on to add 259 runs for the first wicket with his opening partner Mitchell Marsh (121), who scored his first World Cup and only the second overall ODI century.

Australia vs Pakistan Score, World Cup 2023: David Warner and Mitchell Marsh slam 100s @# Cricket#Worlds2023 pic.twitter.com/lBbxsvKyRG

— Babasaheb Rakshe (@bsrakshe) October 20, 2023

To make matters worse for the debutante, he recorded a spell of 9 overs 1 for 82, which is the most expensive spell bowled by a Pakistani bowler on their debut.

Coach Morkel reacts

Pakistani bowling coach Morne Morkel gave his take on Usama’s poor outing in the first match, who played in place of the Pakistani vice-captain Shadab Khan, Morkel in the post-match interview said, “Luckily the team atmosphere is very strong and everybody in that dressing room will put their arms around Usama and support him, it was a dropped catch. Anybody can drop catches on any day, it’s part of the game. This is a big opportunity for Mir to learn and I am sure that he will overcome this.”

Although the result did not go our way, I was very disappointed with my performance on the field. We will try to win the next matches by playing well.#PAKvsAUS #AUSvsPAK pic.twitter.com/lf4zQxImnQ

— Usama Mir (@UsamaMirPak) October 20, 2023

The bowling coach also added, “It is for us to support him in tough times. The character he has shown as a player is strong and I am sure he will get through it.”

The coach also showered praises on his ace bowler Shaheen Afridi by saying, “He’s back in the wickets, he was down for four days with a viral infection and could hardly train. But to come out with a performance like that after just one training session was great.”