Australia defeated Bangladesh by 28 runs (by DLS method) on Friday, June 21, to get off to a great start in the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup 2024. At the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, Australia, who won every game in the group stage, chose to bowl first.
Mitchell Starc made sure it was an exciting start even though the rain delayed the start by taking a wicket in the opening over. The third ball of the innings saw Tanzid Hasan out for a duck. Bangladesh was eventually reduced to 8-1 in three overs after Josh Hazlewood produced a maiden over in the next over.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa broke the partnership in the ninth over, but Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and Liton Das steadied the ship with a fifty-plus partnership. Glenn Maxwell removed Rishad Hossain in the very next over, and the Bangla Tigers lost all sense of direction.
Bangladesh finished with a solid score of 140/8 thanks to a fantastic knock by 23-year-old Towhid Hridoy (40 off 27 balls). With his inaugural hat-trick of the current World Cup, Pat Cummins, however, stole the show. In the eighteenth over, Cummins removed Mahmudullah and Mehedi Hasan from the game. In the last over, he accomplished the incredible feat of dismissing Hridoy with the opening ball.
David Warner leads with the bat.
Australia needed to make sure they started strong, especially with rain clouds gathering. Before the rain once more seemed to ruin the fun, David Warner and Travis Head made the necessary contributions, scoring 64 runs in 6.2 overs. Following a brief break, the match resumed, with Bangladesh taking the lead thanks to Head’s wicket.
Even though Mitchell Marsh was removed after a few overs, Australia was already comfortably up in the match. Once more, rain stopped play in the twelfth over, and there was no indication that the downpour would stop. Warner and Maxwell made sure, nevertheless, that they were 21 runs ahead of the DLS total. Australia triumphed easily by eight wickets.
Mitchell Marsh, Winning Captain said
It was an exciting bowling performance with everyone chipping in. This is a very good playing XI, we spoke before the start to have the team to take us deep into the tournament and have a team based on the conditions and it’s going well. I’m loving it (on captaincy), great team to lead, great group filled with experience, the support staff have been excellent and the families are here as well. Have another game tomorrow and we’re looking forward to it.”
Najmul Shanto, Losing Captain said
The wicket was good, bit slow, but we should have made at least 170. Playing against this team, we should gamble, today Rishad came at 4 to tackle the spinners, he’s a big-hitter but he couldn’t execute that. I’m doing alright so far, enjoying playing here and think I can do a bit more. It’s very important for the top-order to get runs like we did today, that’s a big boost, hopefully the bowlers will continue their form. Looking for a good show against India in our next match.”
Pat Cummins, Player of the Match said
I had no idea (on the hat-trick), then saw when it came up on the screen. Set batter in, playing the innings, you never know how it’ll go about, so that was a big wicket (on Hridoy’s wicket) and happy to have restricted them. Few (hat-tricks) in juniors, never for Australia. Agar and Ellis, on the bench, have hat-tricks, joined their club. It’s pretty awesome to tick that off. Good club to be part of. Fairly polished performance, the goal was to win and we did well with the run-rate, we’ll need to continue with the momentum going ahead in the Super 8s.”
India
