T20 World Cup 2021: Adam Zampa takes 5-19 to help Australia thump Bangladesh

Dubai: Leg-spinner Adam Zampa returned career-best figures with a five-wicket haul to help Australia bundle out Bangladesh for a paltry 73 in a Super 12 Group 1 match of the T20 World Cup on Thursday. Bangladeshi innings fell like house of cards as neither the batters could contend with the Australian pacers nor they negotiated the spinners well and were all out in just 15 overs after being asked to take first strike. Fast bowlers Mitchell Starc (2/21) and Josh Hazlewood (2/8) shared four wickets between them while Glenn Maxwell (1/6) dismissed one batter. Already out of the semi-final race, Bangladesh could not apply themselves even as the ball was coming nicely on to the bat. Starc provided the first wicket as Liton Das (0) dragged one back on to the stumps while Josh Hazlewood got rid of Soumya Sarkar (5), who also played on to the stumps. Maxwell trapped Mushfiqur Rahim (1) while Zampa had Afif Hossain (0) caught in the slip region. Hazlewood got his second victim in opener Mohammad Naim (17), who was caught by Pat Cummins at square leg when the batter miscued a pull shot. [caption id=“attachment_10111421” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Australia’s Adam Zampa, left, is congratulated by teammates after dismissing Bangladesh’s Afif Hossain, right, during the Twenty20 World Cup match in Dubai on Thursday. AP Photo[/caption] Bangladesh were struggling at 33 for five and needed skipper Mamudullah and Shamim Hossain to repair the innings. Mahmudullah (16) found two boundaries off Starc while Shamim too took on the same pacer for his first boundary. Shamim also lofted Zampa confidently for a six over deep square leg. He was stroking the ball fluently but could not convert his good start into a substantial knock. Zampa had the left-hander caught behind when he tried to play a cut shot and trapped Mahedi Hasan in the next ball to be on a hat-trick. When he returned to bowl, wicket-keeper Matthew Wade dropped a catch to deny his colleague the hat-trick milestone. The skipper too departed soon with Starc spelling his ouster by having him caught behind, leaving Bangladesh at 65 for eight. Bangladesh were now in danger of not even competing their 20-over quota and Zampa did not let them by scalping the remaining two batters.