Australia will lock horns with Bangladesh in a Group 2 encounter of the ICC World T20 2016 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore Monday. Both sides will look to get back to winning ways.
Australia were outshined by the upbeat New Zealand in their opening game of the ICC World T20 2016 campaign.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh were thrashed by Pakistan in their opening fixture of the tournament.
The Bangla Tigers have taken a blow as two of their bowlers -- Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny -- have been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect by the ICC. Both of them were reported for suspect bowling action after their match in the qualifiers against the Netherlands.
Taskin and Sunny underwent a test at the ICC affiliated testing centre in Chennai and the results came out Saturday. Bangladesh team management and the captain Mashrafe Mortaza surely are not happy with this decision and they will have to find a new combination for the rest of the tournament.
"We are very upset with the decision. It's very disappointing. We still believe that Taskin is alright. The system - I don't know. We can't do anything at the moment. We have to go through the process," Mortaza was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo.
"These two bowlers have done very well for us. Taskin - in the last eight matches - has been outstanding. He has been outstanding all over the world. His economy rate is less than 6. It is a big blow. Sunny has been bowling well also."
"The team is very disappointed, and Taskin and Sunny are obviously disappointed. The whole team is behind them. At the moment it's very difficult to understand, and tell them that everything will be alright."
"As a group, the coaching staff and players are helping them cope. All that we can wish and pray is that they fight it out and come back and play for Bangladesh."
Australia, on the other hand, will have to win this game if they want to make it to the last four of the semis. After Bangladesh, Steve Smith and co. will take on India and Pakistan. If they lose against Bangladesh, their ICC World T20 2016 campaign will more or less be over.
They will have to work on their team combination, which has gone horribly wrong for them. The Aussies have lost against West Indies in the warm-up game and then they lost against New Zealand.
The bowlers will have to step up to the occasion and help his captain in his cause of pushing his team up the points table and closer to the last four.
ICC World T20 2016 Australia vs Bangladesh schedule:
Date: March 21, Monday.
Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
Timing: 7.30 p.m. IST (7 pm BST, 2 p.m. GMT, 9 a.m. ET).
TV listings: India: Star Sports 1, Star Sports HD1, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD 3. Indian subcontinent: Star Sports network. New Zealand: Sky Sport 1. UK: Sky Sports HD2. USA and Canada: Willow TV. Middle East and North Africa: OSN Sports Cricket HD. South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa: SuperSport 2.Australia: Fox Sports 3. Hong Kong and Singapore: Star Cricket. Malaysia: Astro Cricket HD, West Indies: ESPN.
