Australia triumphed over Bangladesh in a ‘Super 8s’ match in Group 1 of the T20 World Cup by seven wickets with six balls to spare. Pat Cummins led Australia’s bowling attack with a hat-trick while David Warner’s unbeaten half-century ensured no hiccups in their chase as rain threatened to spoil proceedings in Antigua on Saturday (IST).
Two excellent performances from Cummins and Zampa at the beginning of the second innings saw Australia win by 28 runs via DLS method.
Cummins picked up his first hat-trick of this competition off the penultimate over, whereas Zampa showed his accuracy during the middle overs which saw Bangladesh restricted to 140 for 8 after being ask to bat by Mitchell Marsh.
Warner then scored an unbeaten fifty three from just thirty five deliveries including five fours and three sixes. In addition, along with Head (31), Warner helped his side have a flying start hitting sixty without loss before rain stopped play.
However, they lost some momentum when they returned to bat after rain break, with young leg-spinner Rishad Hossain (2/23 in 3 overs) removing Head and Mitchell Marsh (1) within quick succession. Thus, Australia remained dominant. This was illustrated by Warner who hit his last t20 fifty which was done with a massive six that declared him bossing it all.
At the point when it rained for the second time today, Australia had already scored 100 for two off just 11.2 overs which was equivalent to twenty eight runs more than what they needed (72). As such victory showcased Australian depth and quality in the team as they continue marching strongly ahead into tournament.
Mitchell Starc bowled Tanzid Hasan thus providing Australia with an expected early wicket; this put him ahead of Lasith Malinga who remains the top wicket-taker in World Cups having taken 95 wickets.
Najmul Hossain Shanto (41) and Liton Das (16) came together to stabilize the innings with a 58-run third wicket partnership. In the fourth over, Shanto deposited Josh Hazlewood for a maximum over long on before targeting Starc, who had bee struck for two boundaries in as many balls in the previous over by him.
Despite a fifty-nine run stand between them, Zampa ended it by bowling Das leg before wicket on the second ball of his ninth over. Australian spinners applied breaks on Bangladesh scoring only 26 runs in their last five overs while also picking Rishad Hossain (2) and accounted for that important wicket of Shanto bowled by Zampa.
Hridoy hit consecutive sixes off Marcus Stoinis and helped Bangladesh cross the hundred run mark. Nevertheless, Cummins managed to make up for his below par performance earlier in the match when he took fine catches during his late spell thus avoiding any chance of Bangladesh ending strongly.
After that Cummins claimed two wickets in two balls at the end of the eighteenth over. Mahmudullah attempted to pull a short length delivery but played onto his stumps instead. Thereafter, Mahedi Hasan was caught behind off Cummins’ next ball; then lastly, off his first ball back after completing his hat-trick by removing Hridoy from play – completed hat-trick first one this T20 World Cup.
