Australia continued their momentum with a brilliant eight-wicket win against Bangladesh in their last World Cup 2023 group-stage game on Saturday, November 11. Mitchell Marsh made the biggest impact by smashing 177* runs off 132 balls to help Australia chase down the 307-run target with ease.
Bangladesh pulled off an impressive total while batting first at Pune's MCA Stadium after a brilliant fifty from Towhid Hridoy. But Australian batters continued their red-hot form with Marsh scoring his highest ODI score and David Warner and Steve Smith registering crucial fifties to earn the seventh consecutive win in the tournament.
Playing in their last game of the tournament, Shakib Al Hasan-less Bangladesh were forced to bat first. Mustafizur Rahman, Mahedi Hasan and Nasum Ahmed came in for Bangladesh while Steve Smith and Sean Abbott replaced Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc for Australia.
Bangladesh openers Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan provided a positive start with a 76-run stand for the opening wicket. Both players scored 36 runs each but were not able to convert a good start into big knocks. Sean Abbott gave Australia a breakthrough with Tanzid's wicket in the 12th over and then in-form spinner Adam Zampa dismissed Litton in the 17th over.
Stand-in skipper Najmul Shanto and Hridoy 64 runs for the third wicket to put Bangladesh on a track for a big total. Shanto missed out on his fifty by just five runs but Hridoy played a brilliant knock by top-scoring with 74 runs off 79 balls. Abbott and Zampa took two wickets each while Marcus Stoinis picked one as Australia's poor bowling in the tournament continued.
Chasing a big total, Australia lost star opener Travis Head on just ten runs. Taskin Ahmed bowled out Head with a brilliant delivery in the third over but Bangladesh failed to carry the momentum. David Warner and Mitchell Marsh took early control of the chase with a 120-run stand for the second wicket. Warner registered his fourth fifty-plus knock in the tournament before getting caught out on Mustafizur Rahman.
The returning veteran Steve Smith and Marsh continued Australia's dominance with an unbeaten 175-run stand for the third wicket. Marsh recorded his second century of the tournament and scored a stunning 177* off just 132 with the help of 17 fours and nine sixes. He registered the second-highest individual score of the this edition and Smith scored crucial 63* runs to chase down the target in just 44.4 overs.
Bangladesh Playing XI: Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Towhid Hridoy, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman
Australia Playing XI: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins (c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
