Pune (Maharashtra): In pursuit of 307, Australia had no hiccups in scaling the mountain of runs losing just two wickets thus registering an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the last group fixture of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium here on Saturday.
Thanks to Mitchell Marsh's unbeaten 177 off 132 deliveries made it look like a cakewalk for the five-time world champions. His 177 included 17 boundaries and nine huge sixes. David Warner and former captain Steve Smith also didn't spare the batting practice scoring 53 and 63, respectively.
Australians chased the target with 32 deliveries to spare. They will face South Africa in the second semi-final scheduled to be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday, November 16.
Already out of reckoning for a semi-final spot, Bangladesh earlier put up a pretty decent show against semi-finalist Australia. Bangladesh scored 306-8 in the allotted 50 overs with all batters getting into runs.
Put into bat on a batting-friendly wicket, Bangladesh made a solid start with both Litton Das (36) and Tanzid Hasan (36) putting on 76 for the first wicket to build a strong foundation against Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins-led bowling line-up.
The openers scored at a brisk pace with Litton taking 45 deliveries while Tanzid hit a -run-a-ball 36. Skipper Najimul Hossain Shanto hit 45 off 57 coming in at number 3. Towhid Hridoy hit a brilliant 74 off 79 deliveries laced with five hits to the fences and two hits over the line.
Even the lower middle-order batters tried their best to push the score beyond the 300-run mark. Mahmudullah scored a whirlwind 32 off 28 balls with three sixes and a boundary. Mushfiqur Rahim (21 off 24), and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (29 off 20) took the score to 305.
For Australia, who have already made the semi-finals, the pace bowlers couldn't do much as two strike bowlers — Hazlewood and Cummins — went wicketless. Skipper Cummins was particularly expensive giving away 56 in his 8 overs while Hazlewood was economical conceding only 21 runs in his 7 overs.
Spinner Adam Zampa was the pick of the bowlers claiming 2 wickets conceding 32 runs in his 10 overs while Sean Abbott also bagged a couple of wickets giving away 61 runs in his full quota of 10 overs.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 306-8 in 50 overs (Towhid Hridoy 74; Najimul Hossain Shanto 45, Litton Das 36, Tanzid Hasan 36; Adam Zampa 2/32, Sean Abbott 2/61) lost to Australia 307/2 (Mitchell Marsh 177, Steve Smith 63, David Warner 53) by 8 wickets
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