ICC World Cup 2019: Match 23, Australia vs Bangladesh Review – Warner onslaught tames the Tigers

Bangladesh had a mountain ahead of them which was too steep to climb, but they did give it their best shot and made the Aussies work hard for their win. Once the five-time champions registered that herculean total onboard batting first, they always had the upper hand and despite some brilliant batting effort from the Tigers, they remained far away from their target.

It was just another day at the office for the Australian openers, who once again gave a sensational start to the side. Aaron Finch went brutal as usual with David Warner playing the second fiddle, but this time with a much better strike rate. They added 121 runs for the first wicket, which laid a solid foundation for their brilliant middle order to come in and take over. Finch was then dismissed right after he completed his fifty.

Usman Khawaja has been short of runs in this tournament and was allowed to bat at number 3 ahead of Steve Smith. He looked in great touch and adding to his touch of brilliance was the Warner onslaught. The duo took full control of the middle overs and that saw Warner complete his second century of this tournament.

The opener continued his pyrotechnics and on his way, he slaughtered some records as well. He became the first cricketer in World Cup history to register two 150+ scores and also is the first in ODIs to get a 150+ score against six different oppositions. He had a chance to get a double ton, but Soumya Sarkar dismissed him on 166. Usman Khawaja soon followed his partner, missing out by 11 runs on a well-deserved hundred.

Glenn Maxwell who was sent out there to have a blast played a late cameo which helped Australia put up 381 runs in the board. Sarkar was the surprise package with the ball, who picked up three huge wickets of Warner, Finch and Khawaja.

Mushfiqur fires his first World Cup ton

Bangladesh got off to a horrible start in their run chase with Soumya Sarkar running himself out in catastrophic circumstances. The in-form Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal stitched a brilliant partnership to keep things going forward although they were not precisely parallel to the required rate. They added 79 runs for the second wicket before Marcus Stoinis deceived Shakib with a slower ball which he hit straight into the hands of the fielder.

Tamim Iqbal completed his first fifty of the tournament, but he couldn’t make anything big out of it. His stumps went for a walk in the park courtesy Mitchell Starc and the team was in deep waters. Mushfiqur Rahim lost another partner very soon in Liton Das, who couldn’t replicate anything close to what he did against the West Indies.

Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur had a huge task ahead of them heading into the final 25 overs. Aaron Finch was smart enough to prevent these batsmen from gaining any momentum and made his strike bowlers Starc and Cummins bowl in the middle overs. Mahmudullah did get going after a while alongside Mushfiqur and it did feel for a moment they could get close to the target with both batsmen completing their fifties and adding 127 runs for the fifth wicket.

Any hope if there was died with Mahmudullah getting out in the 46th over for a brilliant 69. The momentum was dead after that in their innings and apart from Mushfiqur getting to a hundred, the Tigers’ fans had very little to cheer about in the final four overs.

Brief Scores

Australia: 381/5 in 50 overs (David Warner 166, Usman Khawaja 89; Soumya Sarkar 3/58)

Bangladesh: 333/8 in 50 overs (Mushfiqur Rahim 102*, Mahmudullah 69; Mitchell Starc 2/55)

Result: Australia won by 48 runs

Man of the match: David Warner