A few days after a nail-biting win in the third One-Day International (ODI), Australia go 1-0 up in the T20 International (T20I) series with an all-round performance. Cooper Connolly, who scored 149 in the previous game, was in the thick of things as he smashed 47 off just 27 in pursuit of 132.
With useful contributions down the order from Tim David (20), Debutant Nikhil Chaudhary (18) and Matt Renshaw (18), Australia cruised home to a comfortable four-wicket victory with 10 balls to spare.
Chaudhary, who picked up a wicket and slammed vital runs at six, became the first India-born male cricketer to play for Australia in 60 years.
It was a superb day on the field for another debutant – 22-year-old Joel Davies, who finished with 3/17. Veteran Zampa, on the other hand, was not too far behind, picking up three wickets for just 18 runs. With these three wickets, the leg-spinner also reached the milestone of 150 T20I wickets for Australia.
He is the seventh player to reach the landmark in T20I history.
Electing to bat first, Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals. No batter got to 30, with Mahedi Hasan top-scoring with 29*. Other than him, only Saif Hassan reached the 20-run mark.
Bangladesh will hope to level the three-match series in the next game, which will also be played at Chattogram, on June 19 (Friday).
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 131 in 19 overs (Mahedi Hasan 29*, Saif Hassan 20; Joel Davies 3/17) lost to Australia 133/6 in 18.2 overs (Cooper Connolly 47, Nikhil Chaudhary 18; Abdul Gaffar Saqlain 2/32) by 4 wickets
Player of the Match: Adam Zampa
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