Bangladesh will have Zimbabwe as their guest team to play 5T2oIs. Najmul Hossain Shanto will lead Bangladesh while Sikander Raza will be leading Zimbabwe. The series will commence on May 3. Bangladesh will try to have a clean sweep and will bounce back as the T20 World Cup is just one month away so to have a proper combination Bangladesh and Zimbabwe will look to have a tussle between them and will try to defeat each other.
Journey- Bangladesh and Zimbabwe
Bangladesh recently lost the series against Sri Lanka which had a bad impact on them after that as they need to play a good amount of cricket and should have control over it because this will be the last series before heading to the USA for the T20 World Cup. Skipper Najmul needs to be at the forefront of the batting lineup and needs to be a little bit aggressive and try to score runs. Season Campaigner Mahmudullah will also be a part of the team who should take control of the middle order and need to control the situation and play accordingly. Mustafizur Rehman will join later after completing the IPL duties. Bangladesh Legend Shakib Al Hasan will return to the team.
On the other side, Zimbabwe will also try to keep their momentum on high as they have not played any T20I match recently last time they played against Namibia, and won the match in the African Games. So it will be hard for them to commence the camp once again but keeping in mind T20 World Cup, preparation should be in full flow. Skipper Sikander Raza will lead the team and his records for Zimbabwe are impressive and will start fresh, Sikander left Punjab Kings in between for national duties.
Matchups
Blessing Muzarabani who is the leading bowler of Zimbabwe will try to give his level best as he is a medium pacer and yet he bowls around 135 mph, so his challenge will cost Bangladesh. Keeper batsman Litton Das who is an aggressive player and plays pace very well and his batting helps Bangladesh to register a defining total. The biggest challenge will be Shakib Al Hasan who is a legendary player and played for many years for Bangladesh so his services will be important. Zimbabwe skipper Sikander Raza will also try to score runs and make sure that he keeps his form steady till the T20 World Cup.
Head-to-Head
Both teams have faced five times and just a slight upper hand Bangladesh has over Zimbabwe. Bangladesh has won 3 matches while Zimbabwe has won two times.
Pitch Report
The first three matches will be played at Chattogram where the pitch is slow and favors spinners, pacers will struggle to find a wicket batters will dominate in the first half but spinners might take over the second half. The next two matches will be played in Mirpur, Dhaka has a batting pitch, a slope, and a flat surface which will help batters to score runs and may dominate the bowlers. The average score in Mirpur stadium has been 138 since 2023 so it might change how the game plays. Chattogram has an average score of 168 which also can increase to 200 and can decrease up to 150.