Bangladesh eye historic series win against Australia

Overview

Bangladesh vs Australia, third T20I
Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka
6 August, 18:00 local

With two matches in the bag, Bangladesh know that one final push will be enough to seal a historic series victory at home against the Australians. Another win will mean that the hosts will take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. With so much at stake, Bangladesh will back their tried and trusted performers to get the job done.

The visitors on the other hand have been plagued by much of the same issues from the West Indies tour – a lack of explosiveness and consistency in their batting department. The bowlers have done well to keep Australia alive in matches, but the batting has failed to inspire any sort of confidence with their meek display. Staring at a series loss, it is a final opportunity for the batsmen to show an upturn in their form.

Remember the last time

Australia again struggled with the bat against the variations of the Bangladesh bowlers, meandering their way to a total of 121/7. Mitchell Marsh (45) was the sole contributor during their batting effort.

In reply, Bangladesh found themselves in a precarious position at 67/5, with the contest firmly in the balance. But Afif Hossain (37*) and Nurul Hasan (22*) played composed knocks to take the hosts home to a relatively comfortable five-wicket victory.

What they said

Mahmudullah (Bangladesh captain): "Losing few early wickets causes tension in the dressing room but the way Sohan and Afif batted, it took a bit of pressure off us, the dressing room was quite relieved. Mustafizur has always been effective in these conditions, Shoriful bowled very well, every bowler chipped in. We are taking each game at a time, we need to stand up and perform to the best of our abilities."

Matthew Wade (Australia captain):"We were in a good position today with a couple of set batters, but didn't cash in at the back end. Should have got high 130s or 140s, which would have been a winning score on that track. The bowlers from both teams have done really well. Bowling isn't the problem for us, got to tidy up with the bat."