Australia cruised past Bangladesh with ease by eight wickets in the 43rd match of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune, India, on Saturday to end their group-stage campaign on a high note.
Mitchell Marsh was undisputedly the best player of the match as he smashed the Bangladeshi bowlers on all parts of the ground scoring 177 runs on 132 balls with 26 boundaries which included 17 fours and nine sixes.
He built a match-winning 175-run partnership with middle-order batter Steve Smith who scored 63 runs in the match.
Earlier, Bangladesh batted first and posted 306 runs courtesy of a strong batting display by their middle order.
Bangladesh started brilliantly as they had scored 70+ runs in the first 11overs without losing a wicket but Tanzid Hasan soon became the victim of Sean Abbot for 36 runs.
After almost five overs, Hasan was followed by Litton Das who scored the same amount of runs as his opening partner and ended up losing his wicket to Australia's in-form leg-spinner Adam Zampa, leaving his side 106-2 in 16.4 overs.
Towhid Hridoy top-scored for his side with 74 runs off 79 balls which came with five fours and two sixes. He was followed by Najmul Hossain Shanto who missed out on his half-century by five runs as he was run out by Marnus Labuschagne.
The other contributors for Bangladesh were Mahmudullah (32), Mushfiqur Rahim (21) and Mehidy Hasan (29).
For Australia, Abbott and Zampa bagged two wickets each while Marcus Stoinis managed to pick one.
Australia rested left-handed pacer Mitchell Starc to keep him fresh for the World Cup semi-final against South Africa which will be played in Kolkata on November 16.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh finished their World Cup campaign with four points from nine matches but their qualification in the 2025 Champions Trophy seems secured as the Netherlands would require a win over the unbeaten Indian team in their last match of the tournament to qualify for the ICC event in 2025.
