BENGALURU: Australia opener David Warner’s breathtaking knock of 163 against Pakistan on Friday in the ongoing World Cup saw him achieve a couple of individual records.
Warner’s 163 was his fourth consecutive ton against Pakistan in the 50-over format which is the joint most consecutive ODI hundreds against a team.
Since 2017, Warner’s scores against Pakistan have been 130, 179, 107 and 163. He levelled India’s stalwart batter Virat Kohli’s record of scoring four consecutive tons against West Indies from 2017 to 2018.
This knock marked Warner’s 7th 150-plus score in the ODI format just one shy of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma’s tally of 8.
Former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Chris Gayle also feature in the list with five 150-plus scores in the ODIs.
This knock marked Warner’s third 150-plus score in World Cups, no other player has managed to do it more than once.
This knock also saw him complete 18,000 runs in international cricket in 362 matches making him only the third Australian player to do so.
Former cricketers Steve Waugh (18,496 runs) and Ricky Ponting (27,368 runs) are placed second and first respectively.
With 5 tons to his name in the World Cup, Warner also became the joint highest-century scorer for Australia. He matched former skipper Ponting’s record of five centuries in the World Cup.
Babar Azam-led Pakistan won the toss and opted to field first on Friday but the decision did not go in their favour.
The Aussie openers Warner and Mitchell Marsh played a 259-run partnership in the first inning. Warner scored 163 runs from 124 balls with a strike rate of 131.45. On the other hand, Marsh played a 121-run knock from 108 balls with a strike rate of 112.04.
Australia set a target of 368 on the board for Pakistan to chase in the second innings. (ANI)