Bangladesh is keen to make its first bilateral T20 International series against Australia a memorable one, playing a fearless brand of cricket. (More Cricket News)
The five-match series begins on Tuesday and Bangladesh is high on confidence following the Test, ODI and T20 series victory over Zimbabwe last month.
Most of the first-choice Australian players have skipped the West Indies and Bangladesh tour and the visitors have a lack of experience in their squad.
But Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah said he and his teammates are focusing on their game rather than thinking about the Australia squad.
"T20 is such a game where you can defeat anyone on a particular day, it hardly matters who is top ranked or not," Mahmudullah said.
"It's true they are here leaving a few important players. At the same time we are also missing some important players like Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das.
"It's a great opportunity for us as a team and other players to show our standard. I believe that we are a balanced side in our home and will try to prove it."
Tamim is injured while Liton is out because of a family emergency but Mushfiqur has been forced to miss the series due to Australia's stringent bio-bubble rules.
Cricket Australia demanded there be no access from outside the bio-bubbles but Mushfiqur had to leave Zimbabwe early — and the bio-secure bubble — to be with his ailing parents.
Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo expressed his disappointment over Australia's stance.
"I can't understand the stringent rules Australia placed on Mushfiq bubble," Domingo said.
"I think 10 days (quarantine) would have surely been enough. Very disappointing the way they went about it. No Mushfiqur is surely a loss for us but we have got a big squad and some quality players to replace him."
Domingo pointed out the series is an opportunity for them to do well against Australia as well as to find out a right combination for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
"Trying to find out our best combination and playing against Australia will give us that opportunity. There are two ways to look at it," Domingo said.
"Trying to find out our best combination and keep developing some of the younger players. Secondly Bangladesh don't play Australia too often so this is a big series for us and we are really determined to do well in it."
Domingo made it clear they will take the advantage of Australia's inexperience.
"They are missing a couple of key players, and they've obviously got some players here who are trying to get into the World Cup squad so there will be added pressure on those players to perform," he said.
"It's a new challenge and we will make sure to take advantage to that."
Australia has never lost a T20 match against Bangladesh in four encounters, all of which were one-off meetings at World Cups.
Australia recently lost a five-match T20 series against West Indies 4-1 before winning 2-1 in the one-day internationals.
"We haven't changed focus too much, coming with not a lot of cricket probably took us a few games to get going against West Indies. I am expecting good results over here,” said Matthew Wade who replaced Aaron Finch as captain.
"We've got good leaders in the group and experienced bowlers as well so probably where my leadership will come in a bit more is with our batting group."
With Australia's search for their finishers in this format ongoing, Wade also believes he has the game to adapt to the middle order.
"Thankfully I've played for Australia in the middle order a lot, especially in one-day cricket and even T20 have probably played 50-50 (of my innings)," he said.
"I'll find a way to make it work and win some games.
"Things I probably didn't have seven or eight years ago in my game I feel like I've added — laps and things like that — which are really important towards the back end. Feel like I have a few more tricks than I had a few years ago and the advantage in these five games is that I can get in there and see what works and what doesn't." (AP)
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Head-to-Head: Total matches 4, Australia 4, Bangladesh 0
Bangladesh vs Australia Full Schedule:
* 1st T20I, August 3, 6pm local time
* 2nd T20I, August 4, 6pm local time
* 3rd T20I, August 6, 6pm local time
* 4th T20I, August 7, 6pm local time
* 5th T20I, August 9, 6pm local time ( All matches at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur)
Match Details
Match: Bangladesh vs Australia, 1st T20I
Date: August 3 (Tuesday), 2021
Time: 5:30 PM IST/6:00 PM local
Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
TV Channel: Not available in India
Live Streaming: FanCode (Subscription required)
Elsewhere...
The Match will be telecast on Fox Sports in Australia, while in Bangladesh, the matches can be seen on Gazi TV, T Sports and BTV.
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Likely XIs for the 1st T20I
Australia: Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade (c), Adam Zampa, Dan Christian, Josh Philippe, Ashton Turner
Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (c), Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Taijul Islam, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Rubel Hossain, Mohammed Mithun
Squads
Australia: Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade (captain), Adam Zampa. Travel reserves: Nathan Ellils, Tanveer Sangha.
Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (captain), Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Shakib Al Hasan, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Shaif Uddin, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Mithun, Taijul Islam, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Rubel Hossain.
