Tangladesh are out to save them from ultimate blushes by winning at least a match as they take on Australia for their last game of the Super 12 of Twenty20 World Cup in Dubai on Thursday.
The match which starts at 4 PM (Bangladesh Standard Time) will be aired live in Gazi TV and T Sports.
In the Super 12 phase, Bangladesh lost four straight matches to be out of the semifinal race and another defeat at the hands of Australia means, they would remain win-less for the sixth straight time in the main round of the Twenty20 World Cup. So far their only victory in the main round came in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007.
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Bangladesh definitely will leave no stone unturned to avoid that ignominy. But nothing is going right for Bangladesh after they moved to the Super 12 despite a shocking defeat to Scotland in tournament opener.
The Tigers lost their first game in the Super 12 against Sri Lanka by five wickets before tasting an eight-wicket defeat to England and a heartbreaking 3-run loss to West Indies. In the fourth game, they were humbled by South Africa by six wickets in the pitch that carried enough pace and bounce.
The Tigers could have well won against Sri Lanka, West Indies and even against South Africa but in those three matches, they did strategic mistakes in the crucial moment. Only they are outright crushed by England, by far the best team in Bangladesh's group.
"Actually we didn't play well, still I believe we didn't play according to our potentials. We are better than that. But unfortunately we lost a few easy games, we're supposed to win that games, but unfortunately it didn't happen," Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed said. Bangladesh had recently beaten Australia for the first time in bilateral T20 series, winning the five-match by 4-1 at home but that series victory was questionable due to the quality of the pitch. However, that 4-1 victory improved their record against Australia in this format.
The two teams so far played nine matches of which Australia still held the edge, winning five. Before that five-match series, Australia and Bangladesh met each other four times, all of which was one-off match in the T20 World Cup and the Aussies won all of those.
But now Bangladesh could expect their first win against Australia in the World Cup, because of the pressure that the Aussies have to deal with. While it's a match for Bangladesh to restore some pride after their semifinal hopes ended, Australia still have the chance to reach the last-four stage.
To make that happen, they need to win by a handsome margin against Bangladesh, which means, the Aussies will have to play all out cricket and this is what that could give the Tigers to win the match.
The Tigers' stat in T20 cricket is not up to the mark. They so far played 119 matches and won 43. They had lost a staggering number of 74 matches while two matches fetched no result.
They so far played 31 matches in the World Cup of this shortest version of cricket and won just seven-six of which came in the qualifying round. Their only victory in the main round apart from qualifying phase came against West Indies in 2007 T20 World Cup.