Kolkata: Rains continue to play spoilsport in the Champions Trophy as the Group A game between Australia and Bangladesh was washed out. This situation thus leaves both these teams with a point each and makes competition in the group even tighter and tougher.
Batting first, the Bangladeshi batsmen put on a dismal show as they were shot out for a mere 182 runs with left arm pacer Mitchell Starc being one of the wreckers-in-chief with four wickets to his name from 8.3 overs. It was a collective bowling effort as all the bowlers used by Steve Smith took wickets each barring Glenn Maxwell who bowled just one over.
The Bangladeshi batting performance was extremely poor with most of them failing to apply themselves to get in and eye a big score. Their journey to make it to this year’s Champions Trophy has been nothing short of phenomenal but their current performances doesn’t do justice to all the hard work that they had put in over the last few years to make it into the league of the champions. Barring opener Tamim Iqbal (95), who had got a scintillating century in the first game against England, none of the batsmen failed to make any sort of impact with the willow as they couldn’t take the attack to the opposition. Veteran all-rounder Shakib Al-Hasan scored 29 from 48 deliveries.
In reply, Australia adopted a more cautious and reserved approach in their pursuit of 182. Openers David Warner (40*) and Aaron Finch (19) put on 45 runs for the first wicket after which Finch fell to Rubel Hossain (1/21). With the Aussies at 83/1, it looked as if they would stroll to victory but the rains once came down and this time, it never stopped and thus the match had to be abandoned.
Later when the drizzles were slowing down, a revised target of the match was set but the rains once again came to spoil the party as the game finally had to be washed out.
This leaves Group A in a precarious situation as now both Australia and Bangladesh need to win their last matches to have any chance of qualifying.
Australia perhaps is the most unluckiest team to be playing this year’s Champions Trophy as despite them having played good cricket, the weather hasn’t given them their due and the world champions now are with two points from two games- which puts them in a situation where they need to win their match against England to make it to the next stage in the tournament.
Brief scores
Bangladesh 182 all out in 44.3 overs (Tamim Iqbal 95, Shakib Al-Hasan 29; Mitchell Starc 4/29) vs Australia 83/1 in 16 overs (David Warner 40*, Steve Smith 22*; Rubel Hossain 1/21) washed out due to rain.