Bangladesh no match for Australia
Southpaw Usman Khawaja picked his spots well in anchoring Australia's
pursuit of a not-so-challengiing target with a solid 58.
Khawaja’s solid knock sets up the successful chase, notwithstanding the late stutter
On the eve of this match, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe
Mortaza proclaimed that his side would respond to the suspension of
Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny with an emphatic statement on the field.
There would be no such inspiring tale to follow.
Yet
to adjust to life without Taskin and Sunny, Bangladesh proved to be no
match for Australia here on Monday, going down by three wickets. This
below-par performance saw Mashrafe’s men succumb to a second-straight
loss, while Australia pulled one back after a defeat to New Zealand in
its opening fixture.
Set a modest target of 157,
Australia rode on Usman Khawaja’s 45-ball 58 — his highest T20I score.
Khawaja played a calm hand, keeping the unit in sight of the required
rate until his dismissal in the 14th over. The southpaw left with
Australia needing 42 from 41 balls, and despite throwing away wickets as
the contest drew to a close, the favourite went past the finish line.
Late impetus
Earlier,
Mahmudullah (49 n.o., 29b, 7x4, 1x6) provided the late impetus to
propel a stuttering Bangladesh innings. The Australian bowlers kept the
batsmen in check for the first 17 overs, keeping a bulk of the
deliveries straight and on a good length.
Nathan
Coulter-Nile took the new ball, and worked up appreciable pace while
giving the openers no room to take a swing. A struggling Soumya Sarkar,
found wanting by Coulter-Nile, guided a rare wide ball from Shane Watson
to point in the next over.
Watson scalped another
when Sabbir Rahman made awkward contact off a short ball, allowing James
Faulkner to take a diving catch at mid-on. The first PowerPlay ended
with the side on 33 for two, even as two-drop Shakib Al Hasan was
beginning to find his feet.
Leggie Adam Zampa was
introduced in the tenth over, and he found success immediately. Mohammad
Mithun — taking first strike in place of the indisposed Tamim Iqbal —
pulled a short one to deep mid-wicket, before Shuvagata Hom was caught
in front of the stumps off a flipper.
A little while
later, Zampa —he bowled just the one over in the previous match —sent
back Shakib, the set batsman. An attempted cut by Shakib found the hands
of short third-man, and Bangladesh had made an unimpressive 105 or five
in the 16th over. Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim then gave their team a
much-needed push.
The final three overs yielded 15,
17 and 12 runs respectively, partially undoing all the hard work done
by the Australians up to this point.
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