Openers Aaron Finch and David Warner produced well-paced knocks as Australia finally won at the World Twenty20 at the expense of host Bangladesh with an easy seven-wicket win on Tuesday.
Bangladesh notched 153-5 and it was too little, as Australia cruised to 158-3 in 17.3 overs.
Finch top-scored with 71 off 45 balls and Warner made 48 off 35.
They shared 98 runs to deny Bangladesh any hope, and ensure Australia finally won a game in the five-team Group 2 before heading home. Bangladesh, which had to qualify for the second round, didn’t win a match in the group.
Finch struck seven fours and four sixes while Warner hit five fours and three sixes.
Australia, which has won four World Cups but not the World T20, was considered one of the title contenders but the batting lineup didn’t fire and it was left fighting to avoid last position in the group.
“It has been a little consolation,” Australia captain George Bailey said. “It’s a lot better result than if it had gone the other way. All the things we wanted to do, we did today. Picked the balls, picked the gaps and the bowling was good as well.”
India has topped the group, and Pakistan and the West Indies met late to decide the last semifinalist.
For Bangladesh, left-hander Shakib Al Hasan struck a fine 66 and captain Mushfiqur Rahim contributed 47 in a 112-run partnership for the third wicket.
Shakib, who was Bangladesh’s best allrounder, hit five fours and three sixes during his 52-ball knock. He and the skipper came together at 12-2.
The stand was broken when Rahim went for a big heave at Shane Watson and Glenn Maxwell took a simple catch at deep mid-wicket. Rahim struck five fours and one six off 36 balls.
Shakib, too, holed to the same position in the next over but Maxwell had to take a low catch this time to give Doug Bollinger his only wicket. With both well-set batsmen out by the 18th over, Bangladesh failed to get the extra runs it needed to make a better fight of it.
“We did not finish our innings well,” Rahim said. “The pitch was playing well and we should have got more runs.”
Shakib and Rahim paired up after the recalled Nathan Coulter-Nile removed both of Bangladesh’s openers.
Anamul Haque was caught by Watson at first slip while left-hander Tamim Iqbal tried to play on the up but gave a simple catch to Bollinger at mid-off. (AP)
