Liton’s slow batting at the top
Bangladesh were asked to bat first by Australia at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua where predictions were made that the wicket will be much better and batting-friendly compared to the Saint Vincent pitches. But the Tigers lost Tanzid Hasan Tamim’s wicket in the opening over and played 11 dot balls in the first 12 deliveries of the innings. And it was Liton Das who played out a maiden over against quick Josh Hazlewood in the second over. He scored his first run off the 10th ball he faced, which looked odd as Bangladesh required a good start. Liton played 24 balls before getting out and among those, 15 were dot which was poor batting in a Twenty20 International, even considering the fact that it was against a world-class Aussie bowling line-up. The right-handed batter made 16 off 25 deliveries with a strike rate of just 64. When Australia openers came out to bat they smashed 60-plus runs in the powerplay which proved the wicket was good for batting. And thus Liton’s slow batting proved to be costly for Bangladesh who posted only 140 in 20 overs on a good batting track.
Shanto gets some runs, finally
Skipper Nazmul Hossain Shanto was under fire for not getting runs in this T20 World Cup and he was not in good form prior to the world event either when Bangladesh faced USA and Zimbabwe. But Shanto showed good intent from the beginning against Australia as he struck an impressive-looking cut shot for four in the first over against Mitchell Starc after Bangladesh lost Tanzid’s wicket early. Shanto hammered a six against Hazlewood in the first ball of the fourth over charging down the ground, exhibiting positive intent although Liton was batting slow at the other end. The Tigers captain should have carried his innings after getting a start but was trapped leg before wicket by Adam Zampa when Bangladesh needed to accelerate. The southpaw scored 41 off 36 with five boundaries and one six which was not explosive but at least the Bangladesh skipper got some runs under his belt.
Rishad’s impressive spell
The only positive Bangladesh can count on in the Australia clash was leg-spinner Rishad Hossain’s short spell where he took two wickets to give his side some hope to defend a below-par total on a good batting track. The youngster has quickly become the X-factor of Bangladesh bowling with his leg-spin, something that the Tigers were looking for many years. He sent down game changing overs in the group stage games against Sri Lanka and the Netherlands and Thursday he also bowled impressively by picking up both the Australia wickets to fall. First, opener Travis Head was cleaned up by Rishad after the rain break. It was a conventional leg-break delivery, pitching outside off and turning inwards to hit the stumps. Later, skipper Mitchell Marsh also got out as he tried to sweep and failed to connect. Umpire Richard Illingworth raised the finger and Australia reviewed but replays showed it would have clipped the leg stump and the umpire’s call stayed. Rishad’s bowling figure was 3-0-23-2 before rain stopped play but his good form with the ball continues.
No Shakib with the ball
Bangladesh were defending an underwhelming total of 140 and the Aussie openers made a blazing start. Rain stopped play twice and eventually the match was called off and Australia won by 28 runs in Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method. Australia were 100 for two in 11.2 overs when rain halted play and surprisingly captain Shanto did not bring Shakib al Hasan into the attack. Shakib has not been in the best of form with the cherry in recent games but he is still one of the premier bowlers in the Bangladesh bowling attack. Perhaps the Tigers thought since both the Australian openers are left-handers, Shakib was best left unused. But after the first wicket fall, Marsh and Glenn Maxwell came to bat and both are right-handers and Shakib was still not used as a bowler. Shakib batted at No 6 in this match, rather than his usual No 4, and scored only eight runs off 10 balls.
