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Australia have slumped to their first ever ODI series defeat against Bangladesh after losing by five wickets in the second match of their three-game series.<\/p>\n
After crashing to an unprecedented 0-3 from the first two overs at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday, Australia recovered to salvage 187-8 from 42 overs when rain forced the players off the field at Mirpur.<\/p>\n Play was delayed for 160 minutes before Bangladesh, set a revised target of 192 from 41 overs via DLS method, strolled to victory \u2013 and an unassailable 2-0 series lead \u2013 with 36 balls in hand, sealed by captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz\u2019s six off Riley Meredith.<\/p>\n Australia were behind the eight-ball from the outset, creating unwanted history by losing their first three wickets before scoring a run for the first time in ODIs.<\/p>\n Under-pressure Marnus Labuschagne (55 not out) and tail-ender Xavier Bartlett (career-best 52) helped avoid complete embarrassment for the tourists, who, after winning the toss and electing to bat, lost top-order trio Matt Short, Cooper Connolly and Matt Renshaw for ducks.<\/p>\n Short was castled shouldering arms to Taskin Ahmed, his tormenter in the first game, for his third straight zero dating back to the recent Pakistan series.<\/p>\n Connolly and Renshaw both nicked Mustafizur Rahman to wicketkeeper Litton Das in the second over.<\/p>\n Stand-in Australian captain Josh Inglis said: \u201cAny time you lose three wickets that early, it\u2019s tough to come back from. Marnus and \u2018X\u2019 [Bartlett] got us to total, but it wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n \u201cBangladesh have outplayed us in this series, so congratulations to them.\u201d<\/p>\n It was 25-4 when Alex Carey (13) departed, before Josh Inglis (34) and Cameron Green (25) both fell to Tanvir Islam\u2019s spin, the tourists reeling at 81-6.<\/p>\n Labuschagne, demoted to No 7, snapped a protracted form drought by posting his first half-century in his past 18 ODIs, combining with unlikely batting hero Bartlett for a 103-run seventh-wicket stand to give Australia an outside chance.<\/p>\n Taskin ended the union when he bowled Bartlett and the Tigers seamer was on a hat-trick when he skittled Adam Zampa next ball, soon before the heavens opened.<\/p>\n Bangladesh\u2019s reply started badly when Tanzid Hasan (0) spooned the second delivery of the innings back to Xavier Bartlett for a return catch.<\/p>\n Bartlett spilled a tough chance from Najmul Hossain Shanto three balls later before having a successful lbw shout overturned on DRS in an eventful first over.<\/p>\n Soumya Sarkar (42) and Najmul (42) steadied the ship with an 86-run second-wicket stand, before Towhid Hridoy (44no) and Mehidy (22no) finished the Aussies off.<\/p>\n Bangladesh, who hadn\u2019t beaten Australia since 2005 before the series, have now overcome them twice in 48 hours.<\/p>\n The Tigers have won four straight bilateral ODI series after also defeating New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies.<\/p>\n The third and final game will be in Dhaka on Sunday<\/p>\n<\/div>\n