BAN vs AUS | Australia outsmarted by Bangladesh in ‘alien’ conditions, admits Moises Henriques

A recurring feature during Australia’s 1-4 T20I series defeat in the Caribbean last month was their struggle against quality spin-bowling aided by the slow surfaces. They found it extremely challenging against the duo of Hayden Walsh Jr and Fabien Allen, not to forget Dwayne Bravo’s guile at the back-end. The woes have only been magnified further, after their two straight defeats against Bangladesh, the second of which came on Wednesday, August 4, at Dhaka’s Shere Bangla National Stadium.

"Tonight, I actually thought they were a bit smarter than us to be honest," the 34-year-old told cricket.com.au after the second T20I.

"I've played 60 games in the IPL and the wickets that we're playing on here … they're as foreign and as alien as I've come across.  They're a big adjustment for us and we probably have to adapt quicker, that's for sure. There's no excuses there. It's great for us to be exposed to this because I don't think it's going to get any more different or any more the opposite to what we're used to in Australia."

Australia have struggled to seize early advantage in the powerplay, with spinners Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed and Shakib Al Hasan showcasing great accuracy with the new ball. On the contrary, Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar have just bowled two-overs between them in the first-six overs, and while their returns have been decent still, the impact hasn't been as significant.

"They’ve bowled almost six overs of spin in the Power Play knowing what the wicket is going to be like this time of year, with how wet it is. They've got the advantage of knowing what that plays like. We had no idea it would be like that. 

"Having said that, now we do know, and whilst we can't control a few things we can definitely control assessing our own performances and coming up with plans for how we're going to get over the line for the next three (games)."

"Mustafiz tonight showed how quickly he adapts – I think he bowled 23 or 24 slower balls and did not bowl any more balls with pace on," said Henriques. 

"He doesn't do that when he plays in the IPL … it's probably half-half. He summed up the conditions really well tonight, credit to him. His slower ball even on a good wicket is hard to play, let alone on something like that. It's one thing to be able to do that with your body but to keep hitting the right length like he does (is difficult to face). It's smart bowling because he's got some pace as well if he needs it, but he's summed up the conditions really well and stuck with his plan."