CT 2017, Match 5, AUS v BAN Preview: Australia desperate for a win against decent Bangladesh

Australia and Bangladesh haven’t collided in an ODI since 2011 when the World Champions visited the shores of Bangladesh to play a bilateral series. Since then, Bangladesh has gone on to become a decent ODI side beating top teams more often than they used to. Australia needs to produce a better performance than they did against the Kiwis the other day.

Both sides didn’t get the desired result in their last respective games in the ongoing competition. While Bangladesh was thrashed by hosts England by 8 wickets despite the Tigers making 305 runs, Australia’s game against arch-rivals New Zealand was washed out due to rain. Their skipper Steve Smith accepted that rain came to their rescue as they would have struggled to get to the revised D/L target but a no result in this tournament can lead to their ouster if they slip to a loss in one of the two group games left.

This makes the game very crucial for a powerful Australian side. Bangladesh are no pushovers anymore and Smith is wary of this fact. They will push the men in yellow in this game at the Oval in London. The Mortaza-led side should learn from the mistakes they committed in their first game against the hosts. Their batsmen did a good job but they were a tad slow in their approach in the first 30 overs. The fact that they did not do well in the end overs as wickets fell in a heap, Bangladesh could get just 305 in the end from being in a position from where they could have gotten 325.

Toss: Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat

Steve Smith: We would had a bat as well. A bit overcast and it would be nice if we can get the ball swinging which it hasn’t so far. A used wicket this so we thought it should take some spin. Hence Zampa comes in for Hastings. We were a bit off the other day and have some class bowlers with us who hopefully would turn it on for us. Every game is a must win game and we should go well.

Mashrafe Mortaza: We’d like to bat first. It looks like a good wicket to bat on and should slow up a bit later on so a pretty straightforward decision to bat first. One change – Mehedi Hasan comes in for Mosaddek. We have an exciting spinner coming in and hopefully he’d do the job for us. We are looking to bat first and then defend the total. The Australia match was a long time ago but we’ll look to take confidence from

Playing XI

Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steven Smith(c), Moises Henriques, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Mehedi Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain

Focus will be on:

Steve Smith

With a number of contemporaries making a mark already in the eight-nation tournament, Smith is widely expected to follow suit soon. He is presented with a perfect opportunity as Bangladesh’s attack doesn’t possess of any major threat which can find any chinks in the No. 3 batsman’s armoury. The recently turned 28, Smith looked in imperious touch in the washed out encounter as he creamed two cover drives which speeded to the boundary before the rain arrived and no further play was possible. The right-hander has averaged in excess of 50 in the last three years in ODI cricket. Smith has racked up 8 hundreds in this period and has looked at home playing this format after initially struggling to meet the demands of 50-over cricket. The Australian captain has to lead from the front to guide his side towards a possible semi-final spot.

Mustafizur Rahman

The ‘Fizz’ hasn’t lived up to the expectations. After getting off to a dream start to international cricket, Mustafizur Rahman has struggled a little in recent times. His economy rate has gone over 5 runs an over this year for the first time since making his debut in 2015. Rahman also struggled in the IPL this year after having a dream debut in 2016 as he for played in just a solitary game this year by his franchise. The left-arm bowler has an opportunity to turn things around as paying at the Oval will help his style of bowling. Bangladesh bowling looks much better when Mustafizur fires on all cylinders. His yorkers and cutters at the end overs make scoring difficult for batsmen around the world.

Team Combination

Australia

The World Champions are expected to play the same side for this game. Finch and Warner will again bat together at the top of the order. Smith, Henriques, Maxwell and Travis Head will look after the middle order. Henriques, Maxwell and Head will also have to turn their arms over to fill in as the 4th and 5th bowler. After picking a career-best haul of 6/52 in the last game, Hazlewood must be feeling very confident going into this game. He will share the new ball with Starc. Cummins and Hastings will fill in as the 3rd and 4th medium pacer. Australia might be tempted to play Adam Zampa but it will all depend on the team combination and the playing conditions in London.

Bangladesh

Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal gave their side a great start in the last game against England and will be opening the innings again in this match. They played just 4 bowlers against the hosts after having succeeded by playing 5 bowlers in the past. They might drop Kayes for an extra bowler. Bangladesh needs to play bravely and back their plans. Sabbir Rahman, who was the incumbent No. 3 for a while for them, will be slotted at the position again. Mushfiqur and Shakib will monitor the middle order along with Mahmudullah. Mortaza, Rubel and Mustafizur will shoulder the pace bowling attack. Bangladesh needs their premier left-arm spinner Shakib to perform. He had a bad game against England and needs to show character to bounce back.

Stat Attack:

1 – Number of times Bangladesh have beaten Australia in ODIs after 19 games against each other.

1 – Century required for Tamim Iqbal to complete 10 ODI centuries. He will be the first Bangladeshi cricketer to achieve this feat.

36 – Runs required by David Warner to complete 4,000 ODI runs. He will be the 16th Australian batsman to do that.

43 – Runs required by Glenn Maxwell to complete 2,000 ODI runs.