Dhaka – Bangladesh are heading into Thursday’s match against defending champions Australia to keep their semi-finals dream alive.
Losing the game at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, will almost end their chance of securing a place among the top four teams after the league stage.
While Australia have so far secured eight points, Bangladesh have five. It means the Tigers not only need to win all four of their remaining league stage matches but also improve their run-rate.
As per the playing condition, if two teams have the same points, they will be sorted out based on their run-rate.
Australia have played five matches in the World Cup so far and lost one of them to India who are considered to be one of the strongest contenders to win this edition of cricket’s showpiece event.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, won two of their five matches. In the previous game, they recorded the second highest successful chase in World Cup history.
Shakib Al Hasan, the number one all-rounder, put up a premium performance taking two wickets and registering his second century in this World Cup.
Along with Shakib, Liton Das, who missed all the previous matches in this World Cup, struck an unbeaten 94 off 69 balls with eight fours and four sixes. They put up a stand of unbeaten 189 to seal the game for the Tigers, which now Bangladesh’s biggest partnership in the world cups.
Before this historic win, Bangladesh kicked off their World Cup campaign beating South Africa by 21 runs in their first game. But they lost their matches against New Zealand and England. The other match against Sri Lanka was washed out due to rain.
Shakib has been Bangladesh’s main performer, especially with the bat, in all four matches. He struck two centuries and two fifties. The star all-rounder is enjoying the form of his life that put him at the top of the list of most runs scorer of this World Cup so far (before South Africa-New Zealand game on June 19).
Supporters are hoping for a similar performance from Shakib in the next match against the defending champions.
Bangladesh have played 20 ODIs against Australia till the date and won the just one and that too was 14 years ago at Cardiff. Tigers’ record against Australia in the world cups is not something to get confidence from, where Bangladesh played two matches and lost both.
However, this time around, Tigers are well-prepared and Australia will not make the mistake of taking them lightly.
Bangladesh might go with the same playing XI that stunned West Indies chasing 321 with seven wickets in hand and 51 balls to spare.
Thursday’s match is scheduled to kick off at 3:30pm (BdST). It will be telecast by Maasranga tv, Gtv, and Btv. Viewers can also watch the game live on Rabbithole (rabbitholebd.com) and Bioscope (bioscopelive.com).UNB
