Bangladesh will take on Australia in the first game of the home T20I series to prepare for the upcoming T20 WC.
Match Timings: Aug 03, 5:30 PM IST
Team Preview
Bangladesh will host Australia in the T20I series and both sides will prepare for the T20 WC. Bangladesh are coming off a Zimbabwe series and they won both ODI and T20I series. The T20I series was pretty competitive and they put a great show by chasing a 190 plus total in the decider game. Meanwhile, Australia entered in sub-continent area after their white-ball assignment in West Indies. They lost the 5-match T20I series 4-1 but won the ODI series 2-1.
Aaron Finch will miss the Bangladesh series as well and Wade will be back in the captain’s role. Aussies are missing their key players like Maxwell and Warner. Bangladesh series will give them a good way of preparation for T20 WC. Australia had few weak points in West Indies which should be improved here. Mitchell Marsh was the best positive for Australia in the previous T20I series. He was the leading run-scorer for the side and he was crucial with bowling as well. Pace-attack was dominating specially Starc who was on fire in West Indies. Things might be changed due to spin behavior in Bangladesh. The spin combination would be important for them. Top-order also needs to score runs. Wade has few good scores in past one year at the top. Australia just needs to find their best possible balance. Few players have the final opportunity to prove themselves for the selection in T20 WC.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh had a similar story but they improved their game. They did a good job in the past few T20I assignments They got some good players like Shamim Hossain who played the role of finisher. He scored 15-ball 31 in the last T20I against Zimbabwe in the chase of 194. Hosts will miss Tamim Iqbal and Rahim at the top-order but Liton and Soumya would push their performances on top. Bangladesh will also take this series to make a good balance for T20 WC. Bowling is slightly a concern but they can trouble Aussies with the spin. It should be a cracking game of T20 and Australia has an upper hand.
Possible XI
Bangladesh
Mohammad Naim/Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah (c), Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk), Shamim Hossain, Nasum Ahmed , Mohammad Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam
Australia
Matthew Wade (c & wk), Josh Philippe, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Moises Henriques, Ashton Turner, Daniel Christian, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Riley Meredith, Josh Hazlewood
Key Players
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan
Liton Das
Australia
Mitchell Marsh
M Starc
