All you need to know for Aussies' tour of Bangladesh

This story was updated at 10.30pm AEST on Aug 3 when it was confirmed that the first match of the series would not be shown in Australia

When is it? 

Australia and Bangladesh meet for their first-ever T20 series from Tuesday night, with the match starting at 6pm in Dhaka (10pm AEST). 

All five matches will come thick and fast, all played at the same time and venue – the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the Mirpur district of Dhaka.

First T20: August 3, 6pm (10pm AEST)

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)

Australia arrived in Dhaka last Thursday on a charter flight from Barbados, and the entire squad faced three days of isolation, confined to their hotel rooms, before hitting the training track for the first time on Sunday evening. 

How can I watch?

Unfortunately, a standoff between the Bangladesh rights holders and Australian broadcasters has led to the opening match of the five-game series being unavailable to watch in Australia.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board sold its broadcast rights to BanTech, a marketing agency, in May this year in a two-year deal reported in local media to be worth about US19m. BanTech then sublicenses those rights to broadcasters, both in Bangladesh and abroad.

But it's understood negotiations with Australian broadcasters – including Foxtel and free-to-air broadcasters – broke down and a deal could not be struck ahead of the first match of the series.

While the series is available to viewers outside Australia on YouTube, the rights holders have instructed the RabbitholeBD channel that regularly streams Bangladesh cricket matches to black out the Australian market.

This blackout includes highlights packages, and the situation is not expected to change for the remainder of the five-game series.

The process of securing rights for matches that Australian teams play abroad is independent of Cricket Australia and is negotiated directly between the rights holder and broadcasters.

Usually, the host board sells its rights to broadcasters into foreign markets, but in the case of Bangladesh, all rights are being sublicensed by the BCB's media rights partner, BanTech.

Cricket.com.au will have live scores, match highlights as well as exclusive news and videos from our team in Dhaka, the only Australian media outlet are on the ground covering the series.

If there is an update to the broadcast details of the series, we will update this story and share the news via the cricket.com.au social media channels.

The last overseas match played by the Australian men's team not to be broadcast was a 2018 T20 against the UAE. Originally set down as a practice match before a series against Pakistan and played on Abu Dhabi's nursery ground, the two nations agreed to make it a fully fledged international at the last minute, and Ben McDermott made his international debut.

Although not broadcast, there was at least a short highlights package available on cricket.com.au.

Likewise, fans in Australia were unable to see Daniel Worrall make his international debut against Ireland when South Africa played host to an ODI in 2016 and also in mid-2013 when Australians missed seeing a 246-run opening stand between Shaun Marsh (151) and Aaron Finch (147) in a one-off ODI match against Scotland in Edinburgh.

While those matches were one-off events, and not broadcast in their local markets either, the last time Australia-based fans were not able to see the team for a full international series was during the 1994 tour of Pakistan, some 27 years ago. 

What about live scores, news and highlights?

Cricket.com.au and the CA Live app will be bringing you all the must-see moments from the matches, as well exclusive content from behind the scenes with the Aussies from our crew on tour.

Our website and app will have all the live scores, news and video, and will be the No.1 destination for everything you'll need to know or see.

Cricket.com.au also has you covered on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Who's playing?

Australia have made two changes to their squad that first toured the West Indies this winter, with captain Aaron Finch having returned home with a knee issue that will see him undergo minor surgery when he clears the mandatory hotel quarantine period next week. 

Finch hasn't been replaced in the squad, leaving Australia light on batters, especially ones with much international experience.

The other change is Nathan Ellis has been elevated to the full T20 squad from his role as a travelling reserve (along with Sydney Thunder leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha). Ellis joins the squad proper with Tasmania speedster Riley Meredith picking up a side strain and is expected to debut at some stage in this series. 

So, in case you missed it, there is still no Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis Jhye Richardson or Kane Richardson in the Australia squad, as was the case in the West Indies.

Smith is missing with an elbow injury, Cummins is spending time with his pregnant fiancée, who is due with the couple's first child in early October, while Warner is also skipping the tour to spend more time at home with his three young daughters.

The others – who all went to the IPL in April/May – opted out of touring this winter but are expected to be available for the T20 World Cup. 

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 reserves: Tanveer Sangha.

With Finch out, who is Australia's captain? 

Matthew Wade has been named captain for this five-match series in Finch's absence. 

He will continue to keep wicket, but has signalled some changes to the batting order, with Wade likely to move to the middle order, a role he is expected to fill once the absent stars return for the T20 World Cup.

Wade is Australia's 11th T20 captain, and first did the job last summer against India when Finch was injured and Cummins was rested. 

Alex Carey was captain for the ODI series against the West Indies, and did a fine job in leading Australia to a series win, but the South Australian is not in Australia's first-choice T20 side, although he could still play as a specialist batter in this series.

What about the opposition?

Bangladesh are also missing a trio of first-choice players. Tamim Iqbal is out with a knee injury, while two players have been excluded for not meeting the requirements for the biosecurity bubble that was agreed between Cricket Australia and the Bangladesh Cricket Board. 

Star batsman Mushfiqur Rahim is a big loss for Bangladesh, while wicketkeeper-batter Liton Das has also been excluded. 

Both players left the Bangladesh team's bubble during their recent tour of Zimbabwe due to family emergencies during the COVID-19 crisis. The absence of Mushfiqur in particular will be felt by Bangladesh. 

The two boards agreed a cut-off date of July 20 for players and staff to enter the bio-secure bubble environment, meaning Mushfiqur was not able to enter it when he became available again on July 23. 

In further injury worries for the host nation, there have been reports that star left-armer Mustafizur Rahman will miss at least the start of the series due to an ankle injury, while Soumya Sarkar and Shakib Al Hasan are both managing groin problems.

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

Key stats 

Mitchell Starc has 48 T20 international wickets, and is just one away from becoming Australia's all-time leading wicket-taker in men’s T20 internationals. He's currently tied with former allrounder Shane Watson. 

The in-form Mitchell Marsh has a bowling average of 10.10 in men’s T20 internationals since the beginning of 2019, the best by any player from a Test-playing country to have bowled a minimum of 10 overs.

Australia has never lost a T20 international against Bangladesh, winning all four previous meetings, which have all come at T20 World Cups. 

Form guide

Australia are coming off the back of a 4-1 defeat in the West Indies where they were roundly beaten. Although more is expected of them, the Aussies were coming into the series cold, in the middle of their winter, while West Indies had a tough five-game series against South Africa beforehand. 

Australia did improve during a switch to the 50-over format in the Caribbean, winning a three-match series 2-1 there.

Bangladesh come into this series seeking a first-ever back-to-back T20 series win, having beaten Zimbabwe last month in their most recent encounter.

And with all five matches to be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, it's advantage to the home side, who have won three of their past four T20 internationals at the venue.

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 (vc), 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: August 3, 6pm (10pm AEST)

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)