Former captain Mark Taylor says Australia's batsmen must find ways to score early on the subcontinent or risk again being punished by Bangladesh's spinners in the second Test.
Steve Smith's men are staring down the barrel of a 2-0 series defeat unless they can turn their performance around in the second Test in Chittagong starting on Monday.
Australia's shock loss in the first Test in Dhaka was driven largely by an inability to handle Bangladesh's spinners, with Usman Khawaja and Matthew Wade struggling the most.
The three Bangladesh tweakers, led by man of the match Shakib Al Hasan, were responsible for 19 of Australia's wickets.
Taylor said the likes of Khawaja should look to replicate former great Matthew Hayden, who averaged a remarkable 109.8 from three Tests during Australia's tour of India in 2001.
"As a batsman, you've got to come up with a theory that's going to work for you, playing these spin bowlers," Taylor said on the Nine Network's Sports Sunday.
"Particularly when you first go in because you're nervous, the Australian side hasn't played for a while, and they're all not sure exactly what they should do to make those first 10 runs.
"Once you do that, it's a hell of a lot easier.
"Hayden in 2001 decided to sweep, and religiously sweep, nearly every ball, and it worked for him.
"I think Khawaja and co need to do something similar."
Smith admitted there were no excuses for Australia falling to their first ever loss to ninth-ranked Bangladesh, having arrived in Dhaka just a fortnight after a marathon pay dispute was finally resolved.
But Taylor, who is also a Cricket Australia board member, said Smith could do with a bit of luck.
"Winning the toss might have helped Australia there to bat first in those sort of conditions," Taylor said.
"But the side is not better than that at the moment.
"They need to keep getting better and they need to find a way."
A 2-0 series defeat would send Australia tumbling to No.6 on the world Test rankings, their lowest point in almost 30 years.
Share
