World Cup 2023: Australia steamroll Bangladesh by 8 wickets, riding on Marsh's daddy hundred

Riding on a brilliant daddy hundred from Mitchell Marsh (177*), Australia coasted to a comfortable eight-wicket victory at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Saturday (Nov 11) evening, battering Bangladesh in their final league match at the ongoing World Cup. Steve Smith (63*) smashed an enterprising fifty as well, helping Australia achieve the target with 32 balls to spare.

Chasing a challenging target of 307, Australia were off to a slow start as Travis Head departed in the third over. Pacer Taskin Ahmed cleaned up the southpaw whose form has taken a dip after smacking a century on his World Cup return.

After the early loss, David Warner joined forces with Marsh as the duo started to go after the Bangladeshi bowlers. Marsh took the initiative by dismantling the pacers with Warner following his lead.

Even after Warner's dismissal at the hands of Mustafizur Rahman, Marsh continued to kick on as Bangladesh skipper Shanto looked devoid of ideas.

Meanwhile, Smith showed signs of returning to his brilliant best by taking command of the situation. The right-hander displayed the entire repertoire of his shots by lapping the spinners while punching the pacers through the covers without breaking any sweat. Ahead of the knockouts, Smith's return to form might not be great news for the opponents.

Banglaesh's wobbly batting

Put into bat first, Bangladesh huffed and puffed their way to 307 runs, a total that should have been much bigger, had the batters not thrown away great starts to some middling shot-making and outstanding Australian fielding.

Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das started off the proceedings by bolting out of the door in fine fashion. The subcontinent team survived the first powerplay without losing any wickets and simultaneously taking on Sean Abbot and Marsh rather brilliantly.

However, the super start did not materialise well for Hasan who gifted a catching opportunity to Abbott in his follow-through. Afterwards, Das was joined by Shanto and the duopicked their battles intelligently. They worked Head's gentle offies around the par while going after the other bowlers.

But then Das took a needless risk against Adam Zampa and Shanto got run-out by taking on Marnus Labuschagne's bullet arm for an avoidable single. With a cluster of wickets falling around, Hridoy went into a shell, as did Mahmadullah, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan. All of them got out while playing poor shots.

With a plethora of options at his disposal, Cummins used bowlers with more variations - Stoinis and Abbott at the end of the innings. Bangladeshi lower order tried to take them on but could never get out of the jail. A flurry of wickets meant the batting side fell at least 50 runs short.