Khairul Alam from Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur – Bangladesh has pulled off another dream start against Australia in the second ODI of the series, mirroring their performance from the opening match.
At the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, pacers Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman ran riot over the Aussie batting lineup before they could even open their account.
In an unbelievable display of bowling, the visitors crumbled into deep trouble, losing 3 wickets for 0 runs within the first 2 overs.
In the previous match, Taskin Ahmed bowled Matthew Short on the very first ball of the innings, handing him a golden duck. History repeated itself today in the second ODI.
Taskin clean-bowled Short on the fourth ball of the opening over, sending the Aussie opener back to the pavilion for yet another duck.
Before Australia could recover from Taskin’s early blow, Mustafizur Rahman struck from the other end. On the first ball of his over, the ‘Fizz’ forced Cooper Connolly to edge one straight to wicketkeeper Litton Das. Connolly departed for a duck, but Mustafizur wasn’t done yet.
On the final ball of the same over, Mustafizur trapped Matt Renshaw. The ball nipped back sharply, kissing the edge of Renshaw’s bat before settling into Litton Das’s gloves.
Although the umpire initially turned down the caught-behind appeal, Bangladesh opted for a review. Ultra-edge confirmed a clear spike, forcing the umpire to overturn his decision. With that, the visitors lost three top-order batters without scoring a single run.
Team Changes
Both teams made one tactical change to their playing XIs for today’s encounter. Bangladesh dropped opener Saif Hassan, who had a brief outing in the last match, replacing him with the experienced Soumya Sarkar, making his return to the side after a long hiatus.
On the other hand, Australia’s star all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who arrived in Dhaka last night, sat out of today’s clash. Instead, Riley Meredith earned a spot in the XI, replacing debutant Liam Scott from the previous game.
Playing XIs
| Bangladesh XI | Australia XI |
| Mehidy Hasan Miraz (C) | Matthew Short |
| Tanzid Hasan Tamim | Josh Inglis (C & WK) |
| Soumya Sarkar | Cooper Connolly |
| Najmul Hossain Shanto | Marnus Labuschagne |
| Litton Das (WK) | Alex Carey |
| Towhid Hridoy | Cameron Green |
| Mosaddek Hossain Saikat | Matt Renshaw |
| Taskin Ahmed | Riley Meredith |
| Mustafizur Rahman | Xavier Bartlett |
| Nahid Rana | Nathan Ellis |
| Tanvir Islam | Adam Zampa |