Semifinal-bound Australia won the toss and will bowl first against Bangladesh in the Cricket World Cup at Pune, India on Saturday.
It was the first of two matches on the penultimate day of the round-robin portion of the tournament. Fifth-place Pakistan played England later at Kolkata, with Pakistan needing a huge win in order to move into top-four semifinal consideration on net run rate.
Australia made two changes. Glenn Maxwell, double-century hero of its win over Afghanistan in Mumbai, was rested, as was pace bowler Mitchell Starc. Fit-again Steve Smith and pacer Sean Abbott were included in the playing 11.
Vice-captain Najmul Hossain Shanto leads Bangladesh, with left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed included. It has made two other changes — pacer Mustafizur Rahman and batting all-rounder Mahedi Hasan also come in for bowlers Tanzim Hasan Shakib and Shoriful Islam.
India will try to remain the only perfect team in the tournament by winning its ninth straight match when it plays the Netherlands at Bengaluru on Sunday. It will be the 45th and final match of the preliminary stage which began Oct. 5 and featured all 10 teams playing the others once.
Second-place South Africa finished with 14 points from seven wins in nine games. Australia can overtake the Proteas for second spot if they beat Bangladesh on Saturday by a big margin, but regardless they will still play each other in the semifinals at Kolkota next Thursday.
India is set to face fourth-place New Zealand in the first semifinal in Mumbai on Wednesday unless Pakistan can overhaul the Black Caps by beating England by a convincing margin and substantially improve its net run-rate.
The final is set for next Sunday, Nov. 19, at Ahmedabad's 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium, the largest cricket venue in the world.
On Saturday, the ICC said that with six matches to go, more than a million fans had attended the tournament. It said the millionth fan came through the turnstiles during the match between Afghanistan and South Africa at Ahmedabad on Friday, a match the Proteas won by five wickets.
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Lineups:
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Towhid Hridoy, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman.
Australia: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins (captain), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
