London: Rain stopped play during Australia’s run chase in their ICC Champions Trophy match against Bangladesh here on Monday.
Australia were 83 for 1 from 16 overs with David Warner and Steven Smith batting at 40 and 22 respectively.
Four more overs need to be batted by Australia to constitute a match and they are well ahead of the required target in case of a shortened contest.
Earlier, a sensational death bowling spell by Mitchell Starc (4/29) trumped Tamim Iqbal’s superb 95 as Australia bowled Bangladesh out for a paltry 182 in 44.3 overs.
Starc destroyed Bangladesh late in the innings with a sensational death bowling display. He grabbed three wickets from the 43rd over, including that of Iqbal. He then scalped the last Bangladesh batsman to end the innings early.
The Australian fast bowler missed a chance for a hat- trick as he took three wickets in four balls.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa grabbed two wickets in an impressive spell while Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Travis Head and Moises Henriques took a wicket apiece as the Australians throttled Bangladesh batsmen — except for Iqbal — for runs.
Electing to bat on an Oval pitch that offered pace but little swing, Iqbal played a lone hand in the face of some fine bowling by the Australians as he steered his side to a respectable total.
His 69-run stand for the fourth wicket with Shakib Al Hasan (29) was the only substantial partnership for the Bangladesh side with only three batsmen reaching to double digit figures.
Iqbal hit six fours and three sixes in his fine 144-ball innings as he gave scant respect of the Australian bowlers who otherwise gave a good account of themselves.
Bangladesh began at a slow pace with the Australians tying them down by bowling a tight line and length. On top of that, Bangladesh lost wickets at regular intervals with Iqbal being the one making a resistance to the Australian bowlers.
Soumya Sarkar (3) was the first to go in the sixth over at team score of 22 with Josh Hazlewood edging him to Matthew Wade as the opening batsman played without any foot movement.
Imrul Kayes (6) was beaten by Pat Cummins’ pace as the batsman offered a simple catch to Aaron Finch at cover point as Bangladesh were reduced to 37 for 2 in the 11th over.
Wicketkeeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim (9) did not last long as he fell LBW to a Moises Henriques delivery in the 17th over and Bangladesh were in trouble at 53 for 3. (PTI)
