Australia have severely dented the pride of Bangladeshi bowlers and fielders after they humiliated them in all possible manners in the three-match series that ended on Wednesday.
With two convincing wins earlier, Australian have given ample scope to raise questions over the effectiveness of our bowling attack when they posted 361-8 on Wednesday.
In the first match, Bangladesh somehow managed to keep them below 300, but Australia treated them in a ruthless manner in the second and third games with Shane Watson leading the way.
Watson struck them for a world record 15 sixes in the second one-dayer and in the third game he hit them with equal disdain.
Watson had only 230 runs to chase in the second game, so he had to stop on 185 off 96 balls, but on Wednesday only sky was the limit for the Australian vice-captain.
Bangladesh should thank their luck that they somehow managed to get rid of him for 72 off 40 balls, otherwise it looked like he would take Australia to 500-plus total this time.
At the end of innings Australia made only 361-8, but it was no less a humiliation for them as they have never conceded so many runs in a home game, apart from the World Cup opener against India.
At times it was said that Bangladesh’s spin attack was world class and it had been a major threat for any side from outside the Indian subcontinent, especially on home soil.
True the spinners led Bangladesh to 4-0 win against New Zealand and also had Zimbabwe on their toes before the World Cup. England also struggled against them in the World Cup, making the assessment almost into a myth.
But Australia showed if the batting side have some quality Bangladeshi spinners can never be a threat and they hardly know where to land the ball if put under pressure.
And the fast bowlers are also nothing better. Shafiul Islam is being considered as Bangladesh’s best fast bowling option in current form, but skipper Sakib al Hasan did not dare to bowl him for more than two overs in the second one-dayer.
Sakib had little choice on Wednesday and bowled him eight overs in which the paceman conceded as many as 77 runs.
Making a comeback in the side Mashrafee bin Muratza bowled well in patches and with his three wickets he became only second Bangladeshi bowler after Abdur Razzak to take 150 wicket in one-day internationals.
But he too gave away 80 runs in his nine overs, which made it most expensive bowling figures in his career.
Throughout the World Cup, Bangladesh cried only for their batting and in less than two weeks after the tournament ended, it is now the bowling that is giving them the maximum pain.
Sadly for them, they were also let down by their fielding. Watson were given two reprieves in the second one-dayer which could have made his world record innings into an ordinary one.
And they also dropped at least two catches on Wednesday. Mike Hussey was the supreme beneficiary, getting a century after none other than skipper Sakib dropped him on 95.
Courtesy of New Age
