|| Desk Report ||

Bangladesh will lock horns with Australia in their sixth World Cup match on Thursday at Nottingham, another match turns out to be ‘do or die’ game them. Bangladesh will be pumped up ahead of this important clash as they have beaten West Indies in emphatic fashion in their last match.

Australia dominated Bangladesh throughout the years since the two cricketing nations began rivalry. And that Bangladesh didn’t win more than one match against them, spoke the volume of Australians dominance as well as showed how less number of matches they played. Bangladesh indeed won more than one match against all Test nations barring Australia.

Bangladesh’s only victory came against Australia in Cardiff in 2005, thanks to Mohammad Ashraful’s classical 100 that still touted as the best knock ever played by any Bangladeshi batsmen in ODI cricket. And that the then Australia was full of legendary cricketers, the value of the win was such it was still considered as the biggest upset of the cricket history. Bangladesh’s cricket renaissance basically began after that victory.  

 Australia is currently the fifth ranked ODI team in the World and Bangladesh is on the eighth position of the ranking table.  Australia however is in second position in ongoing World Cup with eight points in five games and Bangladesh is in the fifth position with five points from same number of matches.

Now let’s look at some of the interesting stats between these two sides:

1. Last 10 Matches: Bangladesh have lost all of their last 10 matches against Australia.  And the margin of defeat in all of these matches was heavy. Bangladesh faced Australia last time in the 2017 Champions trophy but that match washed out due to rain.  Australia hasn’t faced Bangladesh in completed ODI since 2011. So, it can be said that they haven’t faced the changed Bangladesh.

2. Total matches: Bangladesh and Australia doesn’t face other too often.  They have just played 20 matches with each other over the years and in those match Australia won 18 times and Bangladesh won just one time. The one silver lining for Bangladesh is that the one match Tigers won against Australia was in Cardiff, England.

3. In World Cup: Bangladesh and Australia faced each other twice in the World cup.  First in 1999 World Cup and then in 2007 World Cup. And in both of these matches Bangladesh lost abysmally.  In 1999 World cup Bangladesh lost by 7 wickets and in 2007 World cup Bangladesh lost by 10 Wickets against the Kangaroos. 

4. Individual performance in the World Cup:    Adam Gilchrist has the highest individual score in this World Cup fixture. He scored 63 runs against Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup. Gilchrist has scored two half-centuries in the two times these two teams faced each other in the World cup. No one has scored any century yet in their World Cup fixtures. For Bangladesh, Minhajul Abedin Nannu is the highest scorer against Australia with 53 runs in the 1999 World Cup. Glen McGrath has the best bowling figure (16-3) between the two teams, in the 2007 World Cup.  For Bangladesh, Enamul Haque Moni holds the best bowling figure ( 40-2 ).