Aussies must be 'brave' against spin challenge: Wade

Australia have little choice but to be "brave" in their approach against spin for the rest of T20 campaign against Bangladesh, believes stand-in skipper Matthew Wade, after his side were yet again found wanting in slow, turning conditions.

Wade's men were welcomed back to the subcontinent with 13 overs of spin bowling that accounted for their entire top six as Bangladesh romped to their first ever T20I victory over the Aussies despite setting a modest target of 132.

Australia have previously admitted they have a weakness against wrist-spin, with leg-spinners finishing as the leading wicket-takers in each of their past three overseas T20 tours.

But it was Bangladesh's diminutive, skiddy finger-spinners, led by left-armer Nasum Ahmed (4-19) who was playing in just his sixth game on Tuesday evening, who were main factor in Australia's inability to handle a straightforward run chase.

Only the impressive Mitch Marsh offered any resistance, scoring 45 off as many balls to maintain the strong form he exhibited during a breakout T20 campaign against the West Indies last month.

Wade conceded the game was effectively lost in the first 13 balls of their innings, in which Alex Carey (golden duck), Josh Philippe (nine) and Moises Henriques (one) were all dismissed in a frenetic period of play.

There is little time or opportunity to refine techniques or have extended training sessions; the second T20I begins tonight (10pm AEST) less than 24 hours after the first one finished while the entire five-game series is being played in the space of a week.

"We're going to have to be brave and stick to our plans," Wade told cricket.com.au. "There's not enough time to reinvent the wheel.

"You're going to have to be brave to play the way you want to play.

"But there's a difference between being brave and being smart when you're chasing lower totals. 

"Guys haven't played over here all that much. The 10 or 15 balls they might get in the middle is vital and valuable going forward. 

"You can't go into your shell in T20 cricket, you can't go into your shell in five match series. You're going to face the same bowlers tomorrow and over and over again – you've got to find a way to just to work it out." 

Leading in the absence of injured skipper Aaron Finch and his regular deputy Pat Cummins, Wade had flagged that having an extra left-hander in their top order could help counter Bangladesh's left-arm spinners. 

It did not have the desired effect; Alex Carey was moved up to open the batting and was bowled first ball by off-spinner Mahedi Hasan, while both Ashton Agar – promoted to No.6 – and Wade were dismissed by player-of-the-match Nasum.

Star allrounder Shakib al-Hasan, the hosts' other left-arm tweaker, combined with Mahedi and Nasum to return 6-65 from a combined 12 overs.

"That's the challenge in this country – the ball early will skid on and hit you in the pads, or the odd one will turn," said Wade. "It probably turned more later than early, I felt pretty comfortable with the spin. 

"It certainly is a challenge and we've got to back up tomorrow, so hopefully the time they spent out there – or the little time they spent out there – they can draw on that tomorrow and find a way to score some runs."

Marsh continues to be Australia's main bright spot on their extended limited-overs trip, having now managed T20 scores of 51, 54, 9, 75, 30 and 45 (264 runs at 44, strike-rate 139.68) since being moved up to No.3 in the absence of a handful of key batters.

The powerful right-hander made a concerted effort before departing for the Caribbean to work on his play against spin, seeking out Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar to identify how he could improve.

"Playing in Australia, you face a lot more quick bowling so for me, especially playing at Perth Stadium and at the WACA for the Scorchers (in the Big Bash) – spin is something you can sit on," Marsh explained.

"I just tried to evolve my game to a point where I have more options for boundaries (against spin) and I feel like it's going well. Hopefully I can keep getting better.

"It's probably something I hadn't done in the past is speak to 'Zamps' and Ashton Agar and feed off them and see where I can get better. 

"I'll keep trying to learn off them – they're some of the best players in the world now so I'd be silly if I didn't try to learn off them."

Qantas Tour of Bangladesh 2021

Australia squad: Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade (c), Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Tanveer Sangha.

Bangladesh squad: Mahmudullah (c), Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Shakib Al Hasan, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Shaif Uddin, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Mithun, Taijul Islam, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Rubel Hossain

(all matches at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka)

First T20: Bangladesh won by 23 runs

Second T20: August 4, 6pm (10pm AEST)

Third T20: August 6, 6pm (10pm AEST)

Fourth T20: August 7, 6pm (10pm AEST)

Fifth T20: August 9, 6pm (10pm AEST)