ICC Champions Trophy
Tigers, Aussies share points
Crucial match abandoned for rain
Syed Mohammed Pithu from The Oval, London
Rain once again caused disruption in the ICC Champions Trophy match, played between Bangladesh and Australia in the Oval yesterday, after an earlier New Zealand vs Australia match in Birmingham on Jun 2 was also abandoned, with the teams sharing one point each.
Chasing a Bangladesh total of 182, Australia was 83 for the loss of 1 wicket in 16 overs when rain disrupted the match. According to ICC rules, the playing teams must bat at least 20 overs each before a result can be announced. With the rains pouring in the Oval, the
match was abandoned and declared no result after the cut-off time, meaning Bangladesh and Australia would share the points from the match.
Earlier, David Warner and AJ Finch opener for Australia, chasing a not-so-challenging target of 183 set by Bangladesh. Finch was caught in lbw by Rubel scoring 19 and Australia was 45/1 . Smith then joined Warner and they had 22 and 40 runs behind their names respectively before the rain halted the play.
Earlier, choosing to bat first, Bangladesh swashbuckling opener Tamim Iqbal waged a lone battle against a mighty Australia bowling attack to lift Bangladesh to a moderate 182 in its do or die match at The Oval.
Tamim who scored a brilliant 128 against England in a losing cause, missed his back-to-back century by being dismissed on 114 ball-95. But he in fact was the only silver lining in an otherwise a pretty listless batting line up which crumbed under just slight pressure in a pitch that possessed no demon.
He was earmarked as the most potent weapon of Bangladesh as revealed by Australia Steven Smith just a day before the match. And the Chittagong-born lad justified it preciously, taking the Aussie bowlers in disdain. A knock that was designed by six fours and three sixes is labeled as one of the best against Aussie in the recent past.
As has been the case over the last five years, the inform southpaw was watchful in the initial part of his innings but the bad balls were treated effortlessly.
Tamims initial patience was a mere precursor to the classy batting that ended unfortunately.
His intention to dominate the Australian bowlers was clear when he sent the best bowler of the world Mitchel Starc in the receiving end having sent him twice across the rope in an over, firstly with his signature cover-drive and second with a gentle cut.
As he started sending the Bangladeshi expats in the stadium to the wild jubilation, Soumya was dismissed on 3, paying the price of his lazy drive. Imrul Kayes and Mushfiqur Rahim also fell to single digit figure although the latters leg-before decision looked dubious.
With 53 for three, Tamim got an ably support from Shakib Al Hasan and looked to repair the damage. They combined for a 69-run for the fourth wicket before Shakib (29) was trapped lbw by Travis Head in a delivery that kept touch low.
After the dismissal of Shakib, leg-spinner Adam Zampa triggered a sensational collapse, removing Sabbir Rahman (8) and Mahmudullah Riyad (8) in 11 balls. Onus was on the duo however to help Tamim in driving the innings but both of them perished to an improvised shot when things should be kept normal.
Bangladesh lost seven wickets for 60 runs to be shot out for 182 in 44.3 overs. Apart from Tamim and Shakib, Mehedi Hasan Miraj was the other to reach double digit figure with 14 runs.
Starc who struggled against Tamim initially got back with a bang in the second spell to remove Tamim for 95 and then sliced the lower order in a devastating nine balls spell, conceding just one run. He finished with four for 29 while Zampa took two for 13.
