India trash Australia, Pakistan dash Bangla hopes

In a two one-sided double headers, Pakistan trashed hapless Bangladesh by 50 runs, with Ahmed Shehzad scoring the first ever T20 century by a Pakistani. Whereas India triggered a spectacular annihilation of Australia, as Ashwin and Yuvraj helped India to make it 4 on 4 in the group stage.

Earlier, Pakistan elected to bat after winning the toss. Ahmed Shehzad went after the bowlers right from the start, whereas the batsmen in the other end played sensibly. Though Shehzad was caught off a no-ball, his innings was chanceless except that. He was well supported by Shoiab Malik, and a small cameo from Afridi at the end drove Pakistan to a good total of 190. No Bangladesh bowlers were spared, and Mortaza took most of the beating, as he went for 63 off 4 overs.

The Bangladesh looked clueless right from the start, as their approach was quite negative. All batsmen got starts, but threw it away while trying to accelerate the things. Shakib was their lone warrior as he stood amongst the ruins. Finally, the total was too much for the Bangladeshis, who are knocked out of the tournament.

Meanwhile, India’s annihilation of Australia ended their misery run at the World T20. After being put into bat by Australia, India got off to a slow start. A little shuffle in the team was expected, and Rahane couldn’t capitalise much on the opportunity he got. Even Kohli and Raina got off to reasonable starts, only to throw it away. But Yuvraj somehow stuck in, and got a stable parter in Dhoni. In the final overs, Yuvraj brought in some vintage shots to power India to 159.

After being set a chasable target, Australia had a chance to chase it down. But some utterly poor shots, coupled with some good bowling, brought in their demise. Very bad shot selection from senior players was the most surprising fact. Australia were bowled out for 86, their second lowest ever. Ashwin was the star as he took 4 wickets, giving only 11 runs.

India and South Africa are firmly into the semi finals, but the SL vs NZ match and the Pak vs WI match are virtual quarter-finals, as the respective winners will get through to the semis.