Nottingham: It has been a smooth if not dominant ride for Australia thus far but the defending champions run into a tricky Bangladesh when they strive to get closer to World Cup semifinals, here Thursday.
The Aaron Finch-led side is at number two behind table-toppers England, though it also has eight points from five matches. Australia (0.812) are marginally behind the hosts (1.862) when Net Run Rate is taken into account. Australia will start favourites in tomorrow’s clash but a passionate Bangladesh are expected to make life tough for the holders. The ‘Tigers’ have shown what they are capable of when they comprehensively beat the West Indies, riding on a magnificent 124 not out from all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. In the form of his life, Shakib has already hit back-to-back centuries and Australia would still remember that it was he, who had plotted their downfall in Bangladesh’s historic Test victory against them two years ago with a 10-wicket match haul. The format is different but coach Justin Langer admitted that his side will have to deal with Shakib. The good news for Australia is that all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is fit after missing two matches due to a side strain though he is not a definite starter against Bangladesh. Langer also hinted that a specialist spinner may come in in his eleven in view of the “dry” strip at the Trent Bridge. Bangladesh, on the other hand, are known to raise their level agianst top seides, Before getting the better of West Indies, they had shocked South Africa by 21 runs. (PTI)
