The last Saturday with action at the ICC Cricket World Cup sees another double header being played out, one which this week begins in Pune when the guaranteed semi-finalists Australia go up against an already eliminated Bangladesh side.
Australia know that whatever happens here they will move on to Eden Gardens for a semi-final showdown with South Africa while Bangladesh know they will be heading home once this game has finished, but they do still need to ensure their qualification for the Champions Trophy.
Australia
It took Australia quite a while to get going in this tournament with their opening two matches yielding pretty comprehensive defeats but once they started getting on a winning run the victories have kept on coming and they head to Pune having won their last six matches, a run which has seen them breeze into the semi-final regardless of what happens here. There have been some scary moments along the way but this is a team who find ways to win when it maybe is least expected.
In the win over New Zealand they had to come back with a strong last 20 overs with the ball and just about got over the line while they needed possibly the best ODI innings of all time to rescue them from the mire against Afghanistan last time out. They won’t want to get into a position that precarious too often but it does show that no matter how bleak things look, they have the personnel to get the job done. In an ideal world their middle order will find some runs here.
Bangladesh
I don’t think there is any avoiding the fact that this has been a very disappointing campaign from a Bangladesh point of view. Whenever tournaments are in this part of the world they should be looking to compete for a spot in the semi-finals even if they are not able to secure one but that hasn’t been the case at all. They have only won one of seven matches since they caught Afghanistan cold in their tournament opener, and they needed some ridiculous sportsmanship to come out on top in that one.
The Bangladesh batting has let them down a bit in recent matches, although to their credit they did find a good innings to beat Sri Lanka in their last match. Their bowling hasn’t really been able to keep teams at bay throughout the competition and moving forward they are going to need to find an attack which keeps the pressure on, or rotate the bowlers they have a bit better. Their fielding has let them down too but you hope from a neutral point of view that they have one complete display in them here.
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Team News
Australia are expected to have Steve Smith back from a bout of vertigo but they will give a fitness test to Glenn Maxwell, although with this match having nothing on it he might be rested anyway. Sean Abbott will hope for a start if the bowling is rotated.
Bangladesh will be without their captain Shakib Al Hasan who has been ruled out with injury. Anamul Haque replaced him in the squad but it might be Mehidy Hasan who comes into the team for his captain.
Betting
I’m not massive on dead rubbers and there isn’t much more of a dead rubber than this one. The big problem with betting on this one is Bangladesh might just be here to avoid a hiding and protect their Champions Trophy spot but I’m not convinced they will do that without Shakib Al Hasan, who they are going to feel the absence of with the bat but certainly with the ball. The match he missed previously Bangladesh looked toothless.
This is a Bangladesh side who have shipped 300 to England and South Africa and they would have conceded it to Pakistan too had they not reached the total when they did. With nothing to play for Australia can just look to be aggressive here and look to send everything to the boundary. That was their mantra heading into the tournament and they are probably going to need to do that in the semi-final. There is nothing to fear in this Bangladesh attack so over 37.5 boundaries looks good to me. This only fails if Bangladesh bat first and offer nothing but they’ve put up over 200 on all three occasions they have batted first and were they to do that again we should be fine here.
Tips
Back Australia – Over 37.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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