All you need to know: Bangladesh v Australia T20Is

T20I series facts   

Schedule

March 31: Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka, 12pm local (5pm AEDT) 

April 2: Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka, 12pm local (5pm AEDT) 

April 4: Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka, 12pm local (5pm AEDT)   

How to watch or listen in Australia: The matches will be live streamed and can be watched on the Bangladesh Cricket Board YouTube channel or via the BCB Facebook page.   

Live scores: Match Centre  

News and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live app, the Scoop Podcast. 

The squads  

Australia: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Tayla Vlaeminck    

Bangladesh: Nigar Sultana Joty (c), Nahida Akter, Murshida Khatun, Sobhana Mostary, Sumaya Akter, Shorna Akter, Ritu Moni, Rabeya, Sultana Khatun, Fahima Khatun, Marufa Akter, Farzana Akter Lisa, Fariha Islam Trisna, Shorifa Khatun, Dilara Akter Dola

Darcie Brown was a late scratching from Australia’s squad, ruled out after being diagnosed with a navicular stress injury in her left foot, and she was not replaced in the squad.  

After a wretched run with injuries Tayla Vlaeminck returns to the Australian squad as one of two inclusions alongside fellow Victorian Sophie Molineux.  

Express quick Vlaeminck has recovered from shoulder surgery that followed back-to-back identical serious foot injuries, and is a chance to feature in an Australia XI for the first time since January 2022.  

Molineux, who played her first international game in more than two years last month when she was included in Australia’s Test XI that played South Africa at the WACA Ground, is a chance to feature in her first T20I since October 2021.

But veteran allrounder Jess Jonassen's international career is at a crossroads after she was left out of the squad – the first time she has missed a tour due to selection rather than injury since her debut in 2012.

Bangladesh meanwhile have made three changes from their ODI series squad. Fargana Hoque Pinky, Disha Biswas and  Nishita Akter Nishi have been left out while Fariha Islam Trisna, Shorifa Khatun and Dilara Akter Dola have been called up to bolster the T20 side.

"Trishna got the nod ahead of Disha as she is a left-arm pacer and adds variety to the bowling," said selector Sajjad Ahmed Shipon. "Dola is a wicketkeeper-batter who we believe has the talent to succeed in the T20 format.

"Shorifa Khatun is an allrounder who bowls off-spin and bats in the late order. She can also develop into a T20 specialist."

Recent form  

Australia just wrapped up a comprehensive ODI series sweep against the Tigresses, winning by margins of 118 runs, six wickets and eight wickets.  

Their last T20I series was against South Africa in January, where they took out the series 2-1 after suffering a historic first defeat to the Proteas in the second match of the series.

Bangladesh’s last T20I assignment was also against South Africa, when they travelled there to play three matches in December.  

There, they won the series opener by 13 runs, before the second game was washed out. The Proteas then bounced back to win the third game by eight wickets, drawing the series 1-1. 

The bigger picture 

The 2024 T20 World Cup will be played in Bangladesh this September and October. For an Australian team visiting the country for the first time in a decade, and with 10 players who had never been to Bangladesh previously, it is the ideal chance to learn about the conditions ahead of that tournament. 

Australia will be gunning for a fourth consecutive T20 World Cup title, and a seventh overall, when the 10-team event gets underway later this year. 

Last time they met  

The last time Australia and Bangladesh played one another in a T20I was during the group stage of the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa.  

There, Georgia Wareham took three wickets to help restrict Bangladesh to 7-107, a target Australia chased in 18.2 overs thanks to Meg Lanning’s unbeaten 48.  

Overall, the teams have played one another just twice in T20Is, with the other match a group game in Canberra during the 2020 T20 World Cup.

The local conditions  

All three T20Is will be played at Dhaka’s Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, the same ground that hosted the three-game ODI series. It is also the venue where Australia defeated England there in the final of the 2014 T20 World Cup.  

Of the current 14-player squad, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry are the only two remaining who played in 2014 tournament. Beth Mooney was also part of that squad, but did not play. 

Kim Garth arrived as the other player to have previously visited Bangladesh, having played there with Ireland in a World Cup Qualifying tournament in 2011.   

Head-to-head in T20Is 

Overall: Australia: 2, Bangladesh: 0 

CommBank Tour of Bangladesh

First ODI: Australia won by 118 runs

Second ODI: Australia won by six wickets

Third ODI: Australia won by eight wickets

March 31: First T20I, Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka (5:00pm AEDT)

April 2: Second T20I, Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka (5:00pm AEDT)

April 4: Third T20I, Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka (5:00pm AEDT)

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath (vc), Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Tayla Vlaeminck

Bangladesh squad: Nigar Sultana (c), Nahida Akter (vc), Fargana Hoque, Murshida Khatun, Sobhana Mostary, Shorna Akter, Ritu Moni, Sultana Khatun, Fahima Khatun, Marufa Akter, Disha Biswas, Sumaiya Akter, Nishita Akter Nishi, Farzana Akter, Rabeya Khan