Stung by series opener, Tigers seek response

Bangladesh will look to bounce back from defeat in the first game of the three-match T20 series against Australia when they take on the visitors on Friday at the Bir Sreshtha Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Cricket Stadium in the port city.

The hosts were dominated by the Australians in the series opener, bowled out for 131, a modest total the visitors chased down with four wickets and 10 balls to spare on a slow, low Sagorika wicket.

Bangladesh, without regular captain Litton Das due to a muscle tear, fell short heavily with the bat, losing their top seven batters for just 86 runs before Mahedi Hasan rescued the hosts from further embarrassment with an unbeaten 29 off 22 balls, including four boundaries.

As many as nine Bangladesh batters fell to Australian spin, with experienced campaigner Adam Zampa and debutant Joel Davies each taking three wickets, while part-timer Matthew Renshaw chipped in with two.

Stand-in captain Towhid Hridoy shared his disappointment over the shambolic batting display while expressing optimism about turning things around in the second match.

"As a batting unit, we failed today, so hopefully we will overcome from here. We all know what kind of mistake we made, so hopefully the next match we will overcome it," Hridoy said after the first match.

"We lost back-to-back wickets in the middle, that's why we didn't build a partnership. As I mentioned earlier, we will overcome. The wicket was pretty good to bat on, but 131 is never enough runs," he added.

"You have to really bowl your heart out to defend that. As a batting unit, we should have scored at least 160 or 170. Every series and every match, the bowling unit has done well. Next time we will do better," he noted.

Australia, meanwhile, appear the happier camp under regular captain Mitchell Marsh, who guided his side with sharp tactical instincts, making the most of his spinners and the wind across the venue.

"We were probably a little bit surprised at the lack of pace and bounce in the wicket, but I thought that we picked a really well-rounded team. If it went that direction, we had heaps of cover," Marsh said after the first match.

The visitors held an optional practice session on Thursday at the venue ahead of the second match, while Bangladesh opted to rest before the important fixture.

With the series on the line, all eyes will be on whether Bangladesh's batting unit can respond to Hridoy's call for a more measured approach, building partnerships rather than relying on boundaries, against an Australian attack that has already shown it can exploit both helpful surfaces and an aggressive opposition mindset.