Welcome to Sportstar’s LIVE coverage of the T20 World Cup 2021 Super 12 match between Australia and Bangladesh from the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.

Mitchell Starc with the ball. Can we expect some chin music early on? Pitched up first ball and Naim guides it to point for a dot. Some movement early on. Beautiful yorker and Naim just clamps his bat down in time and the ball trickles to fine leg; one run. OUT! Liton bowled first ball. Just short of yorker length and Liton gets an inside edge onto his stumps. Liton Das b Mitchell Starc 0(1b 0x4 0x6).

Bangladesh will look to opener Mohammad Naim and Liton Das to get it off to a good start. Naim had a good start to the tournament with two fifties but has found himself amongst the runs in the Super 12. Liton has had starts but failed to capitalise on them.

Finch and Mahmudullah leading their teams onto the field for the national anthems. Bangladesh’s anthem plays for the final time at the tournament and they will look to sign off on a high after a disappointing showing at the event. Meanwhile, Australia will exert every nerve and sinew into today’s match as it looks to keep its semifinal qualification hopes alive.

Australia Playing XI: David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Bangladesh Playing XI: Mohammad Naim, Liton Das (wk), Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah (c), Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman

The news from the middle is that Aaron Finch has won the toss and Australia is going to have a bowl. Mitchell Marsh comes into the side for Ashton Agar as Australia looks to go with the seven specialist batters formula. For Bangladesh, Mustafizur comes back into the XI for Nasum Ahmed.

PITCH REPORT: The wicket that was used for the New Zealand vs Scotland yesterday will be used for this match, so it promises to be a good batting wicket. The Kiwis had notched up 172 runs batting first and Scotland responded with a good fight with 156. It is centrally-located with square boundaries at 73m and 67m. There is some moisture on the surface so there will be swing and bounce on offer initially. Since it is a day game the due factor won’t be too much of a factor and the toss might have less of a bearing on the outcome of the match.

DUBAI in T20 World Cup 2021:

Batting first won: 1

Batting second won: 7

Average first innings score: 132

AUS vs BAN DREAM11 FANTASY TEAM

Wicketkeeper: Liton Das

Batters:, David Warner (vc), Steve Smith, Mushfiqur Rahim

All-rounders: Glenn Maxwell, Mahedi Hasan, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis

Bowlers: Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Mustafizur Rahman

Team Composition:  AUS: 7, BAN: 4 Credits left: 0.0

PREDICTED XI

Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchel Marsh, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Bangladesh: Mohammad Naim, Liton Das (wk), Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah (c), Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam

STAT ALERT: Aaron Finch needs 74 runs to complete 10,000 T20 runs and become only the sixth batter to reach the landmark.

MATCH PREVIEW

Australia will take on Bangladesh in a must-win Group 1 Super 12 contest at the ICC T20 World Cup in Dubai on Thursday.

It needs to beat Bangladesh and then West Indies on November 6 to keep its qualification hopes alive. And even then, its fate will hinge on tournament favourite England beating South Africa on Saturday.

South Africa’s dominant win over Bangladesh has made it a serious contender for a semifinal spot from Group 1, while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are now out of the race.

Bangladesh is at the bottom of the points table with four losses on the bounce. Shakib Al Hasan’s hamstring injury — which ruled him out of the tournament — made matters worse. Against a potent South African pace attack in the last match, Bangladesh’s batting came up short. The bowlers tried to make a fist of it with early wickets, but a target of 85 was never going to be enough.

Meanwhile, Australia is grappling with problems of its own. Its poor Net Run Rate (-0.627) is an impediment. And against England, Glenn Maxwell batted at No. 4 after two quick wickets. In doing so, Australia exposed its best hitter to a raging England attack. Either Marcus Stoinis or Matthew Wade — who have negated the swing in the top-order earlier — could be promoted to take the sting out of the bowling. Mitchell Marsh, who was dropped for the clash with England to include Ashton Agar, could return against Bangladesh.

Bangladesh could play Mustafizur Rahman in place of Nasum Ahmed. Taskin Ahmed bowled superbly for his 2 for 18 against South Africa.

Rangana Herath, Bangladesh spin-bowling coach, remains optimistic despite his team’s poor run. “As a professional, we need to come back strongly. We have another game to go. We need to maintain that winning mindset and build winning confidence. We have to think about Bangladesh cricket’s way forward,” he said on Wednesday.

                                                                                         -Ayan Acharya

Head-to-head in T20Is

All four of Bangladesh’s T20I victories against the Aussies came in the 4-1 bilateral series win in August 2021. The Tigers are yet to open their account against Australia in T20 World Cups.

Head-to-head in T20 World Cups

Where and when to watch T20 World Cup 2021 – Australia vs Bangladesh Live?