Australia thump Bangladesh, boost semi-final hopes

Australia breathed life into their T20 World Cup campaign and crucially lifted their net run-rate above South Africa's following an eight-wicket drubbing of Bangladesh in Dubai.

Adam Zampa took his first five-wicket haul in international cricket as Bangladesh capped off a miserable tournament by folding for just 73, with only three of their batters reaching double figures.

Aaron Finch then led the charge in the run chase as the Aussies looked for a net run rate gain over South Africa by finishing the match as soon as possible, the skipper smashing 40 off only 20 balls to clinch victory in just 6.2 overs.

The win sees the Aussies lift their net run-rate (which was in the negative coming into the match) to +1.03, meaning they have leapfrogged the Proteas into second spot behind England, with all three teams still with a match to play.

Australia now even have a bit of wriggle room in the race for a semi-final spot; a narrow defeat to West Indies on Saturday in Abu Dhabi may not necessarily spell the end of their tournament if South Africa then lose to England in their final group match later that evening (Sunday morning AEDT).

It was a must-win match for Australia on Thursday following their crushing defeat to England on the weekend and Zampa came up clutch with a spellbinding bowling performance that saw him return the best figures of the tournament so far (5-19 from four overs).

The leg-spinner would have had a hat-trick had wicketkeeper Matthew Wade held on to a tough chance off tailender Taskin Ahmed, the only missed chance in an otherwise flawless fielding performance from the Aussies.

Bangladesh's 73 is the lowest total Australia have ever bowled a team out for in a T20 International and it was their fewest balls (38) required to chase down victory as well. 

Finch rode his luck early, surviving missed chances on 13 and 15, the latter a missed catch on the deep mid-wicket boundary that left impressive paceman Taskin fuming.

Image Id: D319151D017E435FA9A362CB968FBF17 Image Caption: Aaron Finch crunched 40 off 20 balls including four sixes // Getty

The right-hander bashed four sixes in a devastating innings as he chased a net run rate boost, continuing his good form after scores of 37 and 44 against Sri Lanka and England respectively.

Taskin got his revenge when he bowled Australia's captain a short time later, while David Warner (18 off 14) followed his skipper back to the pavilion on the final ball of the Powerplay.

But Mitch Marsh, recalled in place of Ashton Agar after missing the England match, iced the chase with a thumping six off Taskin and finished with an unbeaten 16 off just five balls.

Playing only for pride, Bangladesh spluttered out of the gates after being inserted by Finch as they lost more than three wickets inside the Powerplay for the third time in five games.

It was a truly miserable display from the outset as Mitchell Starc (2-21) and Josh Hazlewood (2-8) troubled the Bangladeshis for pace, the latter only being required to bowl two overs.

Allrounder Glenn Maxwell chimed in a with the key scalp of Mushfiqur Rahim in the Powerplay, but neither Marcus Stoinis nor Marsh were required with the ball after Australia reverted to fielding just four specialist bowlers.

Both Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar chopped on before Mushfiqur and Mohammad Naim were both out meekly playing cross-batted strokes.

Image Id: 792F9EB635F34DE991ECAFA7691DC218 Image Caption: Mitchell Starc struck in the first over of the match with the wicket of Liton Das // Getty

When Zampa struck with his very first ball, the Tigers had slumped to 5-33 and the game was all but over.

Captain Mahmudullah and Shamim Hossain stemmed the bleeding momentarily before Zampa returned, removing Shamim thanks to a smart catch from Wade behind the stumps before trapping Mahedi Hasan lbw for a golden duck.

There was a wry smile from Zampa and some banter caught on the stump mics between him and Wade when the gloveman failed to hang on to an edge off a booming drive from Taskin off the hat-trick delivery.

It was of little consequence as Mahmudullah walked after tickling a Starc delivery down the leg-side and Zampa cleaned up the tail to take his tournament wicket tally to 10, making him the leading bowler in the Super 12 stage.

Bangladesh came into the tournament as the sixth-ranked T20I team, above Australia, having knocked them off 4-1 during their recent series on bowler-friendly surfaces in Dhaka.

They leave with some soul searching to do having lost to Scotland in Round 1 before failing to record a single victory in the Super 12s, during which they also lost star allrounder Shakib al-Hasan to injury.

2021 Men's T20 World Cup

Australia's squad

Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams

Oct 23: Australia beat South Africa by five wickets

Oct 28: Australia beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets

Oct 30: England beat Australia by eight wickets

Nov 4: Australia beat Bangladesh by eight wickets

Nov 6 v West Indies in Abu Dhabi (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

All matches live and exclusive on Fox Cricket, available on Kayo Sports.

Click here for the full 2021 ICC T20 World Cup schedule

Click here for the full squads for all 16 teams

Super 12 stage

Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Scotland, Namibia