The Australian T20 team will play a five-match series against the host Bangladesh starting in August 2021. This will be Australia’s first away series in Bangladesh in four years. Australia last visited Bangladesh back in 2017 and drew a Test series 1-1. Cricket Australia has already announced an 18-man squad for the upcoming series against West Indies and Bangladesh. A few well-known Australian cricketers will be unavailable in the series. Regardless, the announced team is more than capable of putting Bangladeshi players to the test in T20 cricket. Let’s take a look at Australia’s squad for the Bangladesh T20 series.
Australia’s Squad for the Bangladesh T20 Series 2021
Cricket Australia named their limited-over squad for the series against the Windies and Bangladesh on Wednesday (June 16). Australia will play five T20 matches and three ODIs against host Windies in July. They will next go to Bangladesh for a five-match Twenty20 series against the team tigers.
The Australian selectors included a number of pacers and all-rounders in the white-ball team. Pacers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood have returned to the Australian limited-over squad for the next two series. They were both absent in the New Zealand series. 24-year-old young fast bowler Wes Agar has received his first international call-up and will most likely make his debut for the Baggy Green in the next series.
However, some big names of Australian cricket will not be seen during the West Indies and Bangladesh tours. Steven Smith, David Warner, Pat Cummins, and Glen Maxwell are among them.
Marcus Stoinis, Kane Richardson, and Jhye Richardson are among the others who have withdrawn from the upcoming tours owing to personal reasons, while Steven Smith will be absent because of an elbow injury.
The Australia team will be captained by Aaron Finch. Josh Philippe, Matthew Wade, Moises Henriques, and Mitchell Marsh will have to carry most of the responsibility in batting. Australia have plenty of options in bowling, especially in the pace department. So, the national team’s management will not have to worry about bowling.
Meanwhile, the official schedule for the Bangladesh series has yet to be finalized. Australia have made certain requests on Bangladesh’s bio-security arrangements because of Covid-19. BCB will formally announce the Australia series fixture if the two boards reach an agreement on these points.
Preliminary Squad:
Aaron Finch (C), Ashton Agar, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Riley Meredith, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa, Ben McDermott, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Wes Agar.
The probable Australia XI for the first T20I:
Aaron Finch (C), Josh Philippe, Matthew Wade, Ben McDermott, Ashton Turner, Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Agar, Josh Hazlewood, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc
Series fixture
Cricket Australia intends to play five T20 matches at the same venue due to the Coronavirus situation. Therefore, all of Bangladesh’s matches against Australia in August are more likely to be staged at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur.
Verdict
Bangladesh have never beaten Australia in a T20 match. The two victories of Bangladesh against Australia came in ODI and Test formats. Bangladesh’s possibility of winning at least one T20 match is not certain as Australia are a very competitive side. But this will be a golden opportunity for the team tigers’ to win a T20 match for the first time against mighty Australian side. In addition, the Bangladesh team can test their strength in the shorter version format through this series. On the other hand, Australia lost their last twenty20 series against New Zealand in March. That’s why Australia will take the Windies and Bangladesh T20 series very seriously.
Source: United News of Bangladesh