A taut, final round of Group B games in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday saw Australia and Afghanistan progress to the quarter-finals, at the expense of a distraught Bangladesh. Until very late in proceedings, three sides had a chance to go through.
Australia ultimately beat Bangladesh by 74 runs and, coupled with Afghanistan’s storming, four-wicket win over Namibia, with just under half their overs to spare, the results contrived to put Bangladesh out.
Having been in the driver’s seat as the day began, with two wins out of two, that loss and elimination hit Bangladesh particularly hard. The coach could not bring himself to talk about the result and the captain, Mehedy Hasan, looked shocked when he did.
“It was unfortunate, you can say,” Hasan said. “We won two matches and then to go out of the tournament early was unlucky. We won two matches comprehensively and are really unlucky as this was the first time that our batsmen failed.”
The pain will not be eased by the knowledge that they mostly had themselves to blame. After asking Australia to bat, they had reduced them to 61 for four at one stage, before a Jake Doran-inspired recovery allowed them to reach 244.
Doran was dropped on 38 but his unbeaten 99 stabilised the innings and a last-over blitz by Tom Andrews that yielded 21 runs ensured they ended the innings on a high.
Then, in the chase, Bangladesh were comfortably placed at 128 for two and, with nearly 18 overs left, they looked to be coasting.
Around the same time, next door at the Nursery Oval, Afghanistan had romped home to their target of 193 against Namibia in 25.3 overs, which assured them second place.
The effect of that on net run-rates within the group meant that Bangladesh could afford to lose and still go through: had they reached 231 and not the victory target of 245, they would have gone through ahead of Australia.
But panic set in once Shadman Islam was run out on 49. Australia’s bowlers sniffed it and pounced, the last eight wickets falling in a heap for just 42 runs in 10 overs.
“Most of the boys were just trying to get a win” without regard to the Afghanistan result, Doran said afterwards. “Trying to get two wins is pretty important to going through and we knew if we got the second win we would at least be in top three and, if not, top two, which we are, which is good.”
Doran’s innings was a patient one and, in true Australian fashion, he was not worried about not getting the hundred as long as the team won.
It was also the fruits of working with Greg Chappell and Graeme Hick in the coaching staff, as well as a preparatory tour to Sri Lanka before coming here. He played it as people remind him to keep playing it: simple.
“They’ve always said to me try to keep things simple and play your game,” Doran said. “They’re right about it. If I don’t play my game I’m going to get out most times. They’re among the best and I probably should be listening to them and what they say.”
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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