Australia consigned Bangladesh to a big defeat in the Tigers’ final match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and gave themselves a net run rate boost.
The Australian bowlers, led by Adam Zampa, restricted a hapless Bangladesh to 73, before Aaron Finch’s men stormed to the target in 6.2 overs.
Zampa picked up five wickets with his leg-spin, his 5/19 the best figures of the tournament so far and the best for Australia in T20Is. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood had two each.
Bangladesh’s batting woes followed them into their final match of the tournament. Only three batters got into double-figures, nobody made more than 20, and they were bundled out in 15 overs.
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Australia enjoyed a big net run rate boost with the result, leapfrogging South Africa to be second on the table behind England.
Quick chase
The loss to England had hit Australia’s net run rate, and meant that should they find themselves equal on points with South Africa after all the games were played, they would lose out.
Hence, Aaron Finch came out swinging, keen to knock off the runs in quick time.
He took a fancy to Mustafizur Rahman, targetting the midwicket boundaries and sending the ball soaring into the stands. Taskin Ahmed too was smashed for back-to-back sixes before Finch was bowled going for another big one, falling for 40 off just 27 balls.
Although Australia then lost Warner as well, they had knocked off 67 runs in the Powerplay, the highest total in that period all tournament.
Another six over midwicket, this time from Mitchell Marsh, completed the formalities.
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Pace and spin combine
Earlier, asked to bat first, Bangladesh came undone against both pace and spin in the Powerplay.
Starc greeted them with a series of deliveries around 144kph, while also getting late movement. Liton Das was dismissed in the very first ball he faced, bowled by a full and fast one.
Hazlewood came back from being hit through the gaps in the leg-side field for four by Soumya Sarkar to have the batter inside-edge onto the stumps.
Glenn Maxwell, brought in for an over of spin despite the pacers doing well, then got some turn to trap Mushfiqur Rahim in front.
Mohammad Naim drove one back past Hazlewood for his third four of the afternoon, but was caught inside the circle two balls later trying to pull.
Adam Zampa needed just one ball to make an impact, with Afif Hossain caught at slip off a googly.
And at 33/5 in just over six overs, Bangladesh were in deep trouble.
Shamim, Mahmud Ullah resist
Mahmud Ullah, who had got going with a couple of fours off Starc, finally found a partner in Shamim Hossain to bring a brief period of stability.
Shamim gave Bangladesh fans the first six to celebrate, smashing Zampa over deep square leg to bring out the team fifty.
Two in two for Zampa
The stand had grown to 29 in 28 balls when Zampa precipitated another collapse.
First, Shamim was caught behind looking to cut. Then, Mahedi Hasan was trapped LBW first ball, with the review confirming the umpire’s call that it was clipping off stump.
He could have completed the hat-trick in his next over had Matthew Wade held on to an edge. He did add another couple of wickets to his tally in that over, though, picking up his five-for and wrapping up the Bangladesh innings.
