Dan Christian scored a quickfire 39 and Mitchell Swepson claimed figures of 3/12 as Australia registered their first win by defeating Bangladesh by three wickets in the fourth T-20 international at Dhaka on Saturday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Bangladesh opening pair of Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar got their team off to a solid start. The pair added 24 runs for the opening wicket before the latter fell to Josh Hazlewood for 8.
Star batsman Shakib Al Hasan failed to get going as he departed for a 26 ball-15. Swepson struck twice by dismissing skipper Mahmudullah Riyad and wicket keeper batsman Nurul Hasan in consecutive deliveries leaving them in a spot of bother at 51/4.
Afif Hossain (20) and Mahedi Hasan (23) made some useful contributions down the order as the hosts ended up with 104/9 in their allotted 20 overs.
Andrew Tye and Mitchell Swepson were the pick of the bowlers for Australia with three wickets each, while Josh Hazlewood bagged 2 wickets.
Chasing 105, Australia got off to a shaky start by losing skipper Matthew Wade in the very first over to Mahedi Hasan. Dan Christian who was promoted to No 3 swung the momentum in visitors favour by smashing Shakib for 5 sixes in the fourth over of the innings. He was eventually dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman for a 15 ball-39.
Bangladesh fought back in the middle overs by dismissing Moises Henriques, Alex Carey and Mitchell Marsh leaving the visitors reeling at 65/6. The duo of Ashton Turner and Ashton Agar Agar added 34 runs for the seventh wicket before the latter was dismissed by Shoriful Hasan for a run ball 27.
Andrew Tye hit the winning runs to take the visitors past the finishing line with an over to spare.
Mitchell Swepson was declared the Man of the Match. The final T20 international will be played at Dhaka on 9 August, Monday.