It was a day of celebrations for Bangladesh but a day of disappointment for Australia when they met each other in the T20 World Cup Super Eight match. It was a typical day at Galle, and Marsh won the toss and naturally, he decided to bowl first, which proved good for him.
The designated opener, Mitchell Starc, got the side-scrolling when he fired the opening salvo, trapping Tanzim Hasan right on the first over. But, still, Bangladesh needed some fightback, which came in the form of Bangladeshi captain Shanto and Litton Das. Shanto made a fine 41 but the giant turn took over after twin blows by Adam Zampa.
A fighting 40 off 28 balls by Towhid Hridoy gave Bangladesh hope, and then the mighty Pat Cummins struck back with a hat-trick.
Aspiring to score 141 at best, Australia took a flying start, and the opening pair of David Warner and Travis Head smashed Bangladesh’s fast bowlers. However, the rain had the final laugh over the rain gods, washing out the match with the Aussies steady at 64 for no loss.
The day — and the game – took another turn for the worse for Bangladesh when the weather changed: Rishad Hossain hit twice after the break. But Warner, with the company from Glenn Maxwell, kept the charge going and got Australia out of the danger zone to a comfortable winning position by 28 runs under the Duckworth Lewis Stern method.
Last night’s nail biting cricketing combat revealed that the Australian team really means business, and Bangladesh also is not a team that will easily fold up even when the odds are stacked against them.
