Group 1 now resembles Group 2 substantially more than it did a few days ago. In a two-horse race with South Africa, Australia has the aces in terms of securing a semi-final spot. There are a lot of possibilities, but since South Africa is playing second, the actual result won’t be known until the conclusion of the day. It might happen that aside leaves the World Cup despite winning four group matches.
Australia could not have done much better against Bangladesh, dismissing them for 73 runs in 6.2 overs to reach the mark. They’ll be hoping that now that the West Indies have been eliminated by Sri Lanka, there’s a potential for something similar in Abu Dhabi. The West Indies batting line-up, on the other hand, seems to pose a greater danger than Bangladesh, which is fragile and lacking in confidence.
Apart from the acquisition of Pat Cummins, Australia’s bowling attack is not much different from the one that was involved in the 4-1 series loss in the Caribbean earlier this year. After the thrashing by England, they went back to four frontline bowlers and one additional batter, which puts more pressure on Glenn Maxwell but seems like a better balance.
A semi-final spot was the bare minimum needed by Australia to get a passing grade in their competition. Their build-up was overshadowed by setbacks and personnel arguments, but although the crushing loss to England reignited many of the doubts, there have been some terrific cricket when they have connected. A tie for second place in this group would very certainly guarantee a match with Pakistan.
With Dwayne Bravo announcing his retirement from international cricket after the tournament, there will be at least one goodbye from the West Indies team. Given the need to rebuild, there may be others, but not Chris Gayle, who has already said that he intends to compete in next year’s T20 World Cup, and captain Kieron Pollard has also stated that he would not retire.