Bangladesh stunned Australia by 86 runs on the DLS Method in Mirpur on Tuesday, turning a rain-hit ODI into one of the biggest results in their one-day history. Australia were left on 191-9 in 42.2 overs, still 94 runs short of the revised target when lightning and rain stopped play and the game never restarted.
The win was Bangladesh’s second ever ODI victory over Australia, and it came in a match that had already swung hard before the weather did. Mosaddek Hossain, back in ODI cricket after four years, made the innings stand out with an unbeaten 86 off 70 balls despite being dropped three times, while Najmul Hossain Shanto added 67 and Tanzid Hasan scored 54 to lift Bangladesh to 284-8. When the chase came, Australia’s top order never settled. Matthew Short was clean-bowled by Taskin Ahmed off the first ball, Marnus Labuschagne fell for 1 to Mustafizur Rahman and even as Cooper Connolly and Alex Carey tried to rebuild, Bangladesh kept breaking through.
Mosaddek’s return mattered as much as the scoreline. His off-spin later finished with 2-37 in 10 overs, giving Bangladesh another route back into a contest that Australia had threatened to control. Nahid Rana then hit regularly around 140 kph and took 4-41, the kind of pace burst that made Australia’s recovery feel fragile even before the rain arrived. Nathan Ellis led Australia with 3-38, while Cameron Green was unbeaten on 52 off 66 balls when the match was called off.
That is what makes this result land so hard for Australia. They had lost to Pakistan 2-1 in ODIs the previous week and came into this series playing their first bilateral ODI in Bangladesh in 15 years, only to be beaten by a side that had not defeated them in this format since 2005. There was still a route back at one stage, but once Bangladesh had pushed the total to 284-8 and then taken wickets under pressure, the chase became a problem Australia could not solve.
The next answer comes quickly. Mirpur is set to host the second ODI on Thursday and the third on Sunday, and Australia now have to show whether this was a one-off shock or the start of a deeper problem on a tour that has already gone badly wrong.
