Buoyed by their historic ODI series victory over Australia, Bangladesh will look to carry the momentum into the shortest format when they take on the visitors in the opening match of the three-game T20 International series at Bir Shrestha Shahid Flight Lieutenant Motiur Rahman Stadium in Chattogram today (Wednesday).
The match is scheduled to begin at 2:00 PM local time.
Bangladesh secured the ODI series 2-1 after outplaying Australia for much of the three-match contest. While the triumph marked Bangladesh's maiden ODI series victory over the Australians, they had previously enjoyed success against them in T20 cricket.
Of the 11 T20 Internationals played between the two sides, Bangladesh have won four, all of which came during their memorable 4-1 series victory in Mirpur in 2021, the last T20I series contested between the teams.
Despite concerns over batting depth, Bangladesh captain Liton Das pinned hopes on the side's strong pace-bowling resources ahead of the series.
The hosts possess an impressive pace attack featuring Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Nahid Rana, Shoriful Islam and emerging fast bowler Abdul Gaffar Saqlain. Except for Gaffar, all were part of the ODI squad and played key roles in Bangladesh's successful campaign against Australia.
"It is good that the pace bowling is very strong. You can play anyone in the best XI. It is a good competition. It is also good for the Bangladesh team that the bench is getting stronger," Liton said.
Liton said the confidence to expect for another series victory stemmed from their ODI series win.
"Not only did we win the series, we played very good cricket in all three matches. This is an added bonus. Of course, the format is different, our team is different, their team is also different."
"One good thing is that most of our players have played in ODIs. Everyone has confidence. But we have to play very good cricket on a certain day," he said.
Australia, meanwhile, avoided a series whitewash with a hard-fought one-wicket victory in the third ODI after losing the opening two matches. The visitors have been boosted by the return of regular captain Mitchell Marsh, who missed the ODI series due to an ankle injury.
Australia have also included all-rounder Nikhil Chaudhary in their T20 squad. If selected in the playing XI, he could become the first Indian-born male cricketer to represent Australia in more than six decades.
Chaudhary was brought into the squad amid the continued absence of Travis Head, who has been granted personal leave after initially being named in Australia's limited-overs squads for the Bangladesh tour. �"BSS
