DHAKA, —Emboldened by their series victory in Zimbabwe, Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah Riyad was bullish about their chance to beat Australia in the first bilateral T20 International between the two sides.

The series, comprising five matches, beginning tomorrow (Tuesday) with Bangladesh willing to show they were no longer a vulnerable side in this format, what was always pictured.

What is needed is to play with an uncluttered mind and to keep the confidence in the ability, said Mahmudullah, who also believed Bangladesh stood a good chance to beat Australia for the first time in any format of cricket.

“Confidence is more important here than dominating anyone else. If we can play with full confidence and find the rhythm, it will work for us,” Mahmudullah said here today during a virtual press conference.

“If we put pressure on ourselves due to being the host’s side, it will not work. I think playing with an uncluttered mind will be key.”

Australia are missing some of their big stars like David Warner, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell and others, who skipped the recent West Indies and Bangladesh series.

Their absence didn’t go well for the Aussies, who lost the five-match T20 series by 4-1 but they recovered from it to win the three-match ODI series by 2-1.

However experience and performance-wise Bangladesh are clear ahead in this series. But Mahmudullah was reluctant to take this into consideration, saying that playing well on a given day will matter most.

“T20 is such a game where you can defeat any one on a particular day, it hardly matters who is top ranked or not. It’s true they are here leaving few important players. At the same time we are also missing some important players like Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das. It’s a great opportunity for us as a team and other players to show our standard. I believe that we are a balanced side in our home and will try to prove it.”

The Aussies however never lost a T20 match against Bangladesh after playing four matches, all of which were one-off meetings at World Cups. There is high expectation in Bangladesh now to end this drought.

Mahmudullah said executing the plan well will be key.

“It is tough to predict if it is a good occasion to conquer Aussies or not. They are a strong side and play good cricket. Rather it is more important to execute our plans and play according to the situation. I think it is going to be a fantastic series. We have played quality cricket against Zimbabwe which will boost us against Australia. Now we are waiting to play our best cricket,” he opined.

The emergence of Shamim Patwari gave Bangladesh a hard-hitter option lower down the order for which they were craving for. At the same time, Bangladesh also had players like Nurul Hasan Sohan and Afif Hossain who can take the finisher role.

Mahmudullah believes these young players could change the dynamics of the series.

“I think Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shamim Hossain and Afif are very capable of finishing the game. They are in good rhythm. I am relying on them entirely. I hope the trio will also show their talent in this series as well,” he added.

Due to the trio, Mahmudullah thought the option was created for him to bat at the top order. Mahmudullah earlier played lower down the order as Bangladesh had the lack of finishers.

“Our T20 team is very balanced right now. If you take a look, we got 5-6 players who are genuine allrounders. We have a good pace attack, bolstered with Mustafizur, Taskin, Shoriful, Rubel Hossain and Saifuddin. And we have good and world class spinners.”