Australia registered a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh in their last league match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 at MCA Stadium, Pune on Saturday (November 11).
Chasing 307 to win, the Aussies rode on Mitchell Marsh’s unbeaten 177 off 132 balls (17 fours and 9 sixes) to overhaul the target with 32 deliveries to spare.
Australia, who began their World Cup campaign with two successive losses, have now won seven matches on the trot and will face South Africa in the second semi-final at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on November 16.
After the game, skipper Pat Cummins conceded that Australia will be facing selection headaches going into their World Cup semi-final.
“We thought it was a really good wicket and thought we could get that total. All 15 players have played this tournament now and we go up to Kolkata, re-assess and perhaps a few selection headaches there,” Cummins said at post-match presentation ceremony.
With Travis Head’s unavailability due to a hand injury and Marsh returning home midway through the World Cup owing to a personal loss, it was only in their last two matches that Australia had a preferred squad of 15 at their disposal.
Maxwell, who struggled with cramps during his iconic knock against Afghanistan, didn’t feature in the Bangladesh match but he will be in mix for the semi-final along with Marsh.
“He (Mitchell Marsh) played beautifully and the tempo he played with was sustainable and the way he finished off the innings, it’s a scary prospect to have him next week,” Cummins said.
“(Winning) seven games in a row, I think chasing 300 was something really special and everything is clicking together,” said Cummins after Australia pulled off their highest successful chase in World Cup history.
Marsh, who was adjudged Player-of-the-Match, expressed surprise to win the award after a costly spell with the ball in the first half of the game.
“It’s rare that you’d win the Man of the Match award after going for nearly fifty from 4 overs, but I would want to contribute more to the team. It was important for me to back myself at (No) 3, knowing when Head comes back, I’ll have to go down. Have failed a few times, but have backed myself to perform,” Marsh said.
“Sure my mum and dad would be watching back home and they would be happy with this, my grandpop (who died last week) was a great man and I’m sure he’d be happy out there,” he stated.
“I think we’re peaking well at the moment and looking forward to the semi-finals in Kolkata,” he added.
On the other hand, Bangladesh’s stand-in captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said the team will look into all league games for improvement. The Tigers finished their World Cup campaign at eighth place in the team standings with two wins and seven defeats.
“It’s disappointing, we didn’t play our best this tournament. We will see what we can do better from now,” Shanto said.
“Mahmuduallah batted really well in this World Cup and Shakib (Al Hasan) also bowled well in a couple of games. We have to improve as a team. It is not about individual performances, we want to look at the nine games and work on areas we need to improve,” he further added.
(With PTI Inputs)
