Bangladesh exploited Australia’s longstanding shortcoming against spin to a historic maiden T20I win over the team from Down Under in Dhaka on Tuesday. The hosts, who had struggled their way to a modest total of 131/7, were still able to win comfortably by 23 runs, thanks to a fantastic display with the ball.
On a surface where the ball gripped and turned for the spinners and even the pacers successfully employed their cutters and slower ones, Australia’s proved to be the worse of the two batting efforts.
While in the first half, useful knocks from Mohammad Naim (30 off 29 balls), Shakib Al Hasan (36 off 33), skipper Mahmudullah (20 off 20) and Afif Hossain (23 off 17) gave the visitors something to bowl at.
The second innings had only the in-form Mitchell Marsh (45 off 45) managing to bat at run-a-ball for the hosts. Stand-in captain Matthew Wade’s painstaking 13 off 23 balls was the second-best individual score for Australia.
The cameo from No.6 Afif was a timely one for Bangladesh, who would’ve finished with about 15 runs less if not for his blitz towards the end of the innings.
However, the real difference on the night was made by Bangladeshi spinners and pacers, who, with their more conditions-suited skillset, were able to outbowl their Aussie counterparts handsomely.
The Australians had left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc (2/33), Josh Hazlewood (3/24) taking the bulk of the wickets, while their spinners Adam Zampa (1/28) and Ashton Agar (0/22) kept things tight for most parts. But to be able to tilt the scales decisively in their favour, the tourists required Zampa and Agar to also chip away at the wickets column, as the Bangladeshi spinners did.
Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed delivered a career-best spell of 4/19 to shake Australia hard right at the beginning of their innings, placing them at 11 for 3. Mehdi Hasan (1/22) and Shakib (1/24) bowled brilliantly as well.
Bangladesh seamers Mustafizur Rahman (2/16) and Shoriful Islam (2/19) too were extremely difficult to line-up for any of the Aussie batters with their great mix of slower balls and cutters that gripped on the Mirpur track.
Brief scores
Bangladesh 131/7 in 20 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 36, Mohammad Naim 30; Josh Hazlewood 3/24, Mitchell Starc 2/33) beat Australia 108 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 45, Matthew Wade 13; Nasum Ahmed 4/19, Mustafizur Rahman 2/16) by 23 runs.
