Bangladesh gave their best shot in chasing down a massive 382 against Australia on Thursday. Once considered minnows in cricketing world, Bangladesh has once again proved to be one of the best teams in ODI cricket at the moment.
After winning the toss, Australia decided to bat first. Once again Aaron Finch and David Warner gave the defending champions great start at the top. They forged a 121 run partnership for the first wicket. However, Aaron Finch was shortly dismissed after his half century.
On the other hand, a dominant David Warner had Usman Khawaja as his partner for the second wicket. Both of them made incredible progress and scored runs at ease. The duo put on a 192 run stand for the second wicket.
David Warner was the star performer with the bat for Australia. He managed to score 166 runs in just 147 balls. Meanwhile, Khawaja also made a quick 89 in his innings. Glenn Maxwell’s cameo of 32 runs from just 10 balls propelled Australia to 381/5.
Chasing 382, Bangladesh lost Soumya Sarkar very early. But Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal used their experience and steadied the innings. But Shakib and Tamim got dismissed at crucial junctures in the chase.
Tamim Iqbal scored 62 runs from 74 balls. However, Mushfiqur Rahim was brilliant with the bat. Although, he did not get ample support for most of the batters, he continued his knock. Mahmadullah played a handy knock of 69 with Rahim to give Bangladesh a distant chance to chase the total down.
But after the 128 partnership, Mahmadullah was dismissed and Bangladesh could not chase the total down. On the other hand, Mushfiqur held the innings together till the end as they lost the game by 48 runs. Rahim finished with an unbeaten 102.
Here is how twitter reacted to Bangladesh vs Australia
They are going to fall short today, and that's only because their bowlers conceded so many. Bangladesh's batting has been one of the highlights of this World Cup
— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) June 20, 2019
https://twitter.com/graphicalcomic/status/1141761935026769921
No. of century partnerships for Bangladesh in World Cups:
1999 – 0
2003 – 0
2007 – 0
2011 – 0
2015 – 3
2019 – 4*#AusvBan #CWC19— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) June 20, 2019
Bangladesh bowlers have conceded too many that the target is always going to be out of reach.
But, their batting has been a major highlight this season.
Anything under 330 they can chase it down.
But, the bowlers have given far too many this time.#AUSvBAN— Ajay Srinivasan (@Ajaychairman) June 20, 2019
300+ in two consecutive chases in the World Cup (same edition):
Sri Lanka (312/1 & 312 in 2015)
Bangladesh (322/3 & 300/4* in 2019)#AUSvBAN #CWC19— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) June 20, 2019
This might have been a lot closer if Tamim had played with a better strike rate and Bangladesh had bowled better at death..#AUSvBAN
— ` (@FourOverthrows) June 20, 2019
Whatever the outcome might be, this fight by Bangladesh deserves nothing but respect and applause. #AUSvBAN
— . (@writes_ask) June 20, 2019
Bangladesh showing lot of cricketing maturity. 380 out of reach so they change their plans to get as close as possible. Gonna come in real handy when it comes to NRR. #AUSvsBAN
— c'est l⍶ vie ⇜⬳ (@wtfdanishhh) June 20, 2019
Had Bangladesh's bowling been a little better then the would have qualified for top 4 for sure. They r playing one of the best cricket in their history. (batting wise).#AUSvBAN
— Suraj JhunjhunuWala (@JhunjhunuSuraj) June 20, 2019
Bangladesh have made 300+ in an ODI innings on nine occasions since the 2015 World Cup. Three of those innings have come in the last 18 days. #CWC19
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) June 20, 2019
Target beyond them, but full marks to Bangladesh for never-say-die spirit. Not intimidated total to chase or bowling strength of opponent
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) June 20, 2019
https://twitter.com/pooja_thatoi/status/1141761612996419584
Well Bangladesh chase is very much over.. Tamim has always been doing bottling job in big matches.. BD needed Soumya to stay till 10 overs at least. Liton & Sabbir r only two guys who can provide some impetus to this chase. #AUSvBAN #BANvAUS
— __mr._optimistic.__ (@RomeoRajat2) June 20, 2019
If not for the immaturity, Bangladesh would have made more supporters around the world than now. Still their cricket making up for it. #CWC19
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) June 20, 2019
Bangladesh have one of the underrated batting line ups. The likes of Sarkar, Mahmudullah, Mithun, Sabbir has to do the aggressor role consistently. Tamim, Shakib, Rahim are anyway good at consolidation and accumulation.
— Tracer Bullet (@ravimaestri) June 20, 2019