Matthew Wade will captain Australia for the five-match T20 series in Bangladesh and will move to the middle order as the team searches for their version of an Andre Russell.

Wade has been handed the captaincy duties after Aaron Finch flew home from Barbados last month to have a minor procedure on his injured right knee.

The series against Bangladesh could be Australia's last T20 matches before the World Cup in the UAE and Oman, starting on October 17.

In Wade's past 15 T20 innings for Australia, he has opened on 11 occasions.

He batted at No.3 twice and came in at No.6 twice.

But the 33-year-old is set to be a permanent middle-order fixture against Bangladesh as the Australians search for the power options they hope will guide the team to victory at the World Cup.

The West Indies have the powerful Russell and Australia want to suss out some of its own options in a team still missing the likes of David Warner, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell.

Mitch Marsh is set to bat at No.3 with Wade shifting down the order.

"Every country is searching for an Andre Russell to bat down low and to get you home," Wade said.

"We've got guys who aren't here that can come in and do a really good job in the middle order.

"We all know what Maxy can do towards the end of a T20 innings.

"We've got the opportunity to work guys through that middle order.

"We're going to do it different to the way the West Indies do it. We don't have as much power as they've got, but we'll find someone there to do a good job come the World Cup.

"Come the World Cup, we've got (Marcus) Stoinis, Mitch, Maxwell, Steve Smith - we're starting to get a lot of options through that middle order, it's really exciting."

Wade feels he now possesses the weapons to thrive in the middle order.

"I think if I get an opportunity to bat down there, I'll find a way to make it work and win some games," he said.

"I feel like I've got a few more tricks than what I had a few years ago."

The series starts in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Despite being handed the extra responsibility of captaining, Wade said giving up the wicketkeeping duties for the series never crossed his mind.

Australia, who lost their recent T20 series against the West Indies 4-1 before winning the ODI series, will be without paceman Riley Meredith (side strain) but batsman Ben McDermott is available after recovering from an ankle injury.

Squads:

Australia: Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade (captain), Adam Zampa. Travel reserves: Nathan Ellils, Tanveer Sangha.

Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (captain), Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Shakib Al Hasan, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Shaif Uddin, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Mithun, Taijul Islam, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Rubel Hossain.