Bangladesh will face 2nd ranked ODI team Australia in their 2nd match of the 8th ICC Champions Trophy at Kennington Oval in London today (Monday).
The day-night Group A match will begin at 6:30 pm (Bangladesh time).
The game is a must-win battle for Bangladesh to escape the early elimination from the race while Australia will also find itself into danger if it loses the match.
Bangladesh started their four-team group campaign conceding an eight-wicket defeat against hosts England in the tournament opener and will be out of race if they lose to Australia.
Two times champions Australia shared points with New Zealand in their rain-hit match.
Australia took part in all the previous seven editions of the world’s 2nd most popular cricket tournament and tasted their first title in 2006 beating the West Indies by 8 wickets in Mumbai, India. They clinched the straight 2nd title of the tournament defeating New Zealand by 6 wickets in 2009 edition in South Africa.
The Tigers are competing in the tournament for the first time since 2006 after failing to qualify for the previous two editions in 2009 and 2013 because of its low ranking.
Bangladesh’s first experience of the event came in the 2nd edition held in Nairobi in 2000, but the team returned home empty-handed in terms of results. The story remained the same in the 2002 and 2004 editions before they recorded first victory against Zimbabwe in 2006.
Including this edition’s tournament opener against England, the Tigers played a total of nine matches till date in the ICC Champions Trophy and secured only one victory in 2006 edition over Zimbabwe.
In their previous 19 ODI encounters, Bangladesh could manage only one win against Australia which was by 5 wickets at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff in June 6, 2005.
Bangladesh squad: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (captain), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Sunzamul Islam, Mehedi Hasan and Shafiul Islam.
Australia squad: Steven Smith (captain), David Warner, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, James Lee Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade and Adam Zampa..
