Australia thump Bangladesh to take 1-0 lead in T20Is series

Nine of Australia's 10 wickets were taken by spinners as the visitors overcame the ODI series defeat to start the T20I leg of the tour with a fairly easy victory. Adam Zampa led the way with three wickets while debutant Joel Davies matched him with three wickets of his own.

Matt Renshaw and the other debutant - Nikhil Choudary - combined to pick three more wickets as Bangladesh folded cheaply for 131. Australia had their share of hiccups but it wasn't enough for the home team to pull off a heist. The chase dragged out till the penultimate over, but Australia did enough to win by four wickets.

In the absence of Litton Das due to a minor injury, stand-in captain Towhid Hridoy saw it fit to bat first but his team didn't respond adequately. Saif Hasan and Tanzid Hasan briefly threw caution to the winds before Spencer Johnson picked the only wicket to pace when he got rid of the latter in the third over. Saif miscued a hit against part-time off-spin of Renshaw in the fifth over.

That brought captain Hridoy to the middle, who began his time there with a six first ball. But his expansive urge to sweep a Zampa delivery brought his downfall as he got beaten on the inside edge and got bowled.

Zampa and Davies chipped away at Bangladesh's middle partnerships, and Renshaw returned to score his second of the game. From 57/3, Bangladesh quickly fell, even running the risk of being bundled out for a score below 100. Mahedi Hasan saved them those blushes, with an unbeaten 29 off 22.

That turned out to be the best batting effort on a scorecard that was otherwise poor. When openers Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglish went down in the Powerplay, Australia also got off to a bad start in their chase.

This gave Bangladesh confidence that their total might not be as small as it seemed. With a quick 47 off 27 and 40 off 28 with Tim David, Cooper Connolly, however, shattered that illusion. However, Bangladesh's Abdul Gaffar Saqlain also achieved success on a day when debutants were enjoying success. Even though he took Connolly in the 10th over against the run of play, he got his first international wicket.

Bangladesh hoped to ruffled a few feathers when they took out David in the 12th over, but debutant Choudary added 27 with Davies and 13 with Renshaw to see the team through even as they lost six wickets.