Nasum Ahmed returned a career-best 4-0-19-4 to help Bangladesh register their maiden T20I victory over Australia, in the first of the five-match series at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka. Needing only 132 to win, Australia ended up being bowled out for 108.
Earlier, Australian bowlers, led by Josh Hazlewood (3-24), put on an excellent show to restrict Bangladesh to 131/7 after Matthew Wade won the toss and asked them to bat. Hazlewood was ably assisted by Andrew Tye (1-22) and Ashton Agar (0-22), while Mitchell Starc (2-33) became the first male Australian to bag 50 T20I wickets. He got there during the last over of the innings.
Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Naim made 36 and 30 respectively, but both failed to get going before being cleaned up. Mahmudullah scored a run-a-ball 20 before Hazlewood got him in the 13th over. Had Afif Hossain not hit a 17-ball 23, Bangladesh would have struggled to reach over 120.
Coming to defend, Bangladesh asked Mahedi Hasan (1-22) to open the attack. The plan worked straight away, as he bowled Alex Carey with the first ball of the innings. Josh Philippe (9 runs in 5 balls) and Moises Henriques (1) fell soon after Carey’s dismissal as Australia were left reeling on 11/3 in 2.1 overs.
Mitchell Marsh and Wade (13 off 23) then started to rebuild the innings. The pair added 38, but did not get the timing right throughout the partnership.
Marsh began to accelerate after Wade’s departure. He smacked four fours and one six in his run-a-ball 45, but Nasum, coming to bowl the 16th over, dismissed Marsh after the latter went for a slog sweep and mistimed. Australia’s hopes were shattered at this point. They fell 23 runs short of the target.
The two sides will again meet on 4 August for the second T20I, at the same venue.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh 131/7 in 20 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 36; Josh Hazlewood 3-24) beat Australia 108 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 45; Nasum Ahmed 4-19) by 23 runs. Player of the Match: Nasum Ahmed.