International Cricket: Bangladesh vs. Australia 8/4/21 Cricket Prediction

Australia’s tour of Bangladesh resumes tomorrow, Wednesday August 4th, 2021 at 8:00am EST with the second T20I match in the 5-match series being played in Dhaka.

Bangladesh defended a sub-par score of 131 reducing Australia to 108 to win by 23 runs. Today’s win was the first time that Bangladesh had beat Australia in this format, the head-to-head is now 4-1 but more importantly it gives the Tigers the upper-hand in the series. Tomorrow will test the real grit of both teams, for Bangladesh it will be a chance to go 2-0 up while for Australia their objective will be to level the series.

Australia should feel really disappointed with themselves after a truly dismal performance today. Set a very getable target of 132, they folded despite another solid score of 45 by Mitchell Marsh who has been in tremendous form. No other batsman has scored over 20, something they will need to rectify going into tomorrow’s match. Earlier in the match the bowling unit were exceptional with Josh Hazelwood taking 3 wickets and Mitchell Starc taking 2. All around the bowlers were economical, it is just unfortunate the batsmen were unable to deliver to get them over the hurdle. Will they be able to turn the tide around?

Bangladesh was not on song with the bat despite a few standout performances, namely Mohammad Naim (30), Shakib Al Hasan (36) and a cameo from Afif Hossain with 23. 131 for 7 they would have been thinking was simply not enough but the Bangladeshi bowlers played out of their skins to restrict Australia. Nasum Ahmed took an amazing 4 wickets with Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam taking 2 wickets each. They will be looking to replicate today’s performance when tomorrow comes and not rest on their laurels.

What will it be? Will Bangladesh go 2 up tomorrow or will Australia level the series? I expected another thrilling game, higher scores that today’s game and a lot more fireworks. Australia will come out all guns blazing but you can book a Bangladesh win tomorrow to put them that much closer to the series win.