Bangladesh failed to stand up with the match on the line when their Twenty20 team succumbed by one run to India, an outcome that could have significant implications for Australia’s hopes.
Had Bangladesh won, Australia would have needed help in order to advance to the semifinals, but the win by India means that Australia can now control their own destiny, needing only to win when they play India this coming Monday morning in Mohali.
In an improbable finish, Bangladesh went into the last over needing only 11 runs to achieve victory and put Australia in an uncomfortable predicament. They chipped away at the deficit and got to the point of needing just two runs off the last three balls, but in an incomprehensible turn of events, they lost three consecutive wickets.
India’s bowler Hardik Pandya was adequate, but the wickets lost had more to do with the inability of an experienced batting duo for Bangladesh both being caught deep when singles would have sufficed to win the match.
Bangladesh had the opportunity to win over India for the first time in T20, along with the chance to win for the first time in any cricket format in 18 years, but that degree of pressure ultimately was too much for them to handle and ended their campaign.
