Australia’s tour of Bangladesh will begin with the first of the five T20Is on Tuesday, August 3 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka.

Bangladesh will be high on confidence after beating Zimbabwe 2-1 in the recent away T20I series. They will be without the services of Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, and Liton Das. In their absence, the Bangladeshis will bank on in-form batsman Soumya Sarkar. Sarkar was the highest run-getter for his side in the T20I series against Zimbabwe. Along with him, the veteran Shakib Al Hasan will also be key to Bangladesh’s success in the series.

Bangladesh Team completed their first practice session at SBNCS following the 3-day quarantine. #BANvAUS pic.twitter.com/X41XvW9AB0

— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) August 1, 2021

Coming to the Australia team, they will be disappointed with their performance against West Indies, after losing the T20I series 4-1. The lone star for them was all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who scored 219 runs in five matches at an average of 43.80 and bagged 8 wickets. Australia’s regular skipper Aaron Finch is unavailable due to a knee injury. Matthew Wade will lead the squad in the series.

Matthew Wade will move to the middle order, keep wicket and captain Australia in the #BANvAUS series | @LouisDBCameron https://t.co/6RUBxC2OYo

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) August 2, 2021

Head-to-Head the Australian’s have a spectacular 4-0 record in T20Is against Bangladesh. But the Aussies should not take them lightly as they are capable of punching above their weight. All-in-all, we are in for a cracking first match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka.

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Bangladesh vs Australia: First T20I– Match Details

Match: Bangladesh vs Australia, First T20I

Date and Time: 3 August 2021, 5:30 pm IST

Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka

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Pitch Report

The pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka generally suits the spinners. Teams winning the toss will opt to bowl first. The average first innings score at the ground is 152.

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Predicted Playing XI

Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (C), Mohammad Naim, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan (WK), Shamim Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam

Australia: Matthew Wade (C), Ben McDermott, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Marsh, Moises Henriques, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendoff, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazelwood, Mitchell Starc