Did Bangladesh miss a trick in the T20I series opener against Australia at Chattogram?

Ahead of the first T20I against Bangladesh, Australian skipper Mitchell Marsh felt that they have got an edge over the hosts in terms of experience. As it turned out, that seemed to be the major difference among the two teams in the opener, if not anything else.

The boundary line at the Bir Sreshtho Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Cricket Stadium in Chattogram is certainly bigger in size compared to other venues of the country. Furthermore, the wicket was slightly on the slower side and the Australian spinners exploited it to the fullest. Adam Zampa, who arrived with plenty of subcontinent experience courtesy his involvement with different T20 franchises in this part of the world, was given the duty of guiding the spinners and he did that with utmost precision.

The nine wickets shared by their spinners are the most for an Aussie spin attack in any T20I innings, and also marked the second time that spinners have taken nine wickets in a T20I innings in Bangladesh.

"It was about communicating how the wicket played. We've never played in Chittagong before, particularly a couple of the younger guys as well. So it was about communicating what the ball was doing off the surface...The wicket was a little bit slow, so I was trying to use that to our advantage," said Zampa, who finished with figures of 3-18 from his four overs while also reaching the mark of 150 T20I wickets.

Debutant Joel Davies said that Zampa guided the other spinners, adding that it was surreal for him to bowl alongside the seasoned leggie.

The spinners bowled Test match-style by flighting the ball to lure the batters into playing their shots. And the Bangladeshi batters couldn't resist, playing a few too many of them.

Bangladeshi pace bowling coach Talha Jubair admitted to the same, adding that they should have batted more patiently.

"I think we just tried to hurry it up," Talha said. "Our Powerplay was excellent as we scored 52 in six overs. But from there we could not carry on. Every over, or every two overs, a wicket was falling. I think we rushed a bit there, we went for too many boundaries whereas if we could have built a partnership, 30-35 runs, even a 40-run partnership it would have been better," he said.

"What we understood was that this wicket was perhaps not a 200-run wicket. But since the Powerplay had also started very well, I think from there the batters got a little carried away that they will connect with everything they hit, but you cannot connect every ball," he said.

"There was a wind factor," Talha elaborated. "The one on which Emon got out, perhaps if there had not been the wind factor, that would have been a very big six, but the ball stayed inside the ground. So at that point we went a little on the backfoot. We lost three wickets between 7 and 15 when we needed to build our game.

"The way we bowled, if there had been another 30-35 runs on our scoreboard, then it would not have been so easy for Australia," he said, adding that the Bangladeshi batters fell into the trap laid by the Aussie spinners.

"The way they trapped us, we fell into their trap. That is what I felt. Because they wanted us to go for big shots, and if there was a mistake...that is exactly what happened to us," Talha said.

Davies, on the other hand, credited skipper Marsh's advice to go for wickets looking at the size of the ground.

"I think here in Bangladesh the grounds are a fair bit smaller than in Australia, so if there were any parts of the ground that were slightly bigger, I had to use that to my advantage. With the wind going against the big boundary, it was Mitch's idea to make me hit them to that big boundary and I think I got two wickets from that, so it was a nice plan by him," Davies said.

With a 1-0 lead under their belt, Australia will look to take an unassailable lead in the second T20I at this very ground on Friday (June 19).