T20 World Cup: Australia thrash Bangladesh by 8 wickets

Australian bowler Adam Zampa picked up five Bangladesh players as the batsmen were bundled out for 73runs in today's match.

Zampa returned figures of 5-19 with his leg-spin and combined with the Australian pace bowlers to skittle out Bangladesh for just 73 in the Super 12 contest in Dubai.

Skipper Aaron Finch, who hit 40, and David Warner put on 58 runs for the opening wicket as Australia romped home in 6.2 overs to move ahead of South Africa on net run-rate and boost their semi-final hopes.

Taskin Ahmed bowled Finch after the batsman smashed two fours and four sixes in his 20 ball knock, and Warner was out for 18 but the wickets remained minor blemishes in Australia’s third win in four matches.

They are in a direct race with the Proteas to seal a final four spot from Group 1 led by England who have effectively sealed one of the two semi-final places with four wins in as many games.

South Africa plays England on Saturday after Australia takes on the West Indies.

Left-arm quick Mitchell Starc bowled Liton Das for naught on the third delivery of the innings to set the tone for Australia’s dominance.

Soumya Sarkar dragged a Josh Hazlewood delivery onto his stumps and Glenn Maxwell trapped Mushfiqur Rahim lbw for one as Bangladesh slipped to 10-3 and then 33-5 in 6.1 overs.

Captain Mahmudullah Riyad, who made 16, then put up some resistance with a 29-run partnership with Shamim Hossain, who scored 19, before Zampa broke through with his second wicket.

Zampa struck again off successive balls of his third over to be on a hat-trick that nearly came through in his opening ball of his final over but wicketkeeper Matthew Wade dropped a catch.

Zampa then took two more to wrap up the innings in 15 overs and surpass his previous T20 best of 3-14.

Bangladesh, who have now lost all their five matches, witnessed a second straight collapse after they were bowled out for 84 in the previous loss to South Africa.

Australia came out roaring as Finch and Warner punished the opposition bowlers with hits all around the ground.

Australia, who have won two out of their three matches, need a win to boost their semi-final hopes and Finch said they want to "exploit any moisture on offer" while bowling.

Earlier, Australia has never won a T20 World Cup, and they’re currently in a bit of a tricky situation. They’ve won two of their three matches, but a heavy defeat to England has left them with a poor net run rate – minus 0.627, or more than a run per over worse off than that of their closest rivals for a semi-final spot, South Africa, who are at +0.742. It's a massive gap to bridge, so they'd ideally want not just to win this game and their last one, against West Indies, but they'll also hope England beat South Africa to ensure there are no tie-on points.

Similarly, Bangladesh, meanwhile, is winless after four games, and winless in the main group stage of T20 World Cups ever since the tournament moved to this format. Bangladesh trounced Australia 4-1 when they met recently in a T20I series, but that was in Bangladesh, and tough conditions in the UAE aren’t hugely dissimilar, they aren’t as heavily loaded in favor of spin, and that’s been enough to expose Bangladesh’s limitations severely.

The Aussies have made one change from their previous loss to England with Mitchell Marsh coming in for Ashton Agar.

Bangladesh has lost all four matches and is playing for pride. They have brought Mustafizur Rahman back in place of Nasum Ahmed.

It has been tough in this tournament, we didn’t play to our potential and it’s the last opportunity for us," said skipper Mahmudullah Riyad.

"We want for play for pride and try to prove ourselves again."

Team Players:  
Australia:  David Warner,  Aaron Finch (capt), Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Bangladesh:  Mohammad Naim,  Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah (capt), Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam