Bangladesh v Zimbabwe T20I Series Preview: Teams eye consistency ahead of World T20

With the Asia Cup T20 looming and a World T20 to follow, the home side Bangladesh look keen to identify a settled combination. Zimbabwe, after losing four successive limited-overs series against Afghanistan, will also look to build for the mega event that will be hosted by India. Neither team has an impressive record in T20Is on account of inconsistent performances. Bangladesh had lost their last game in this format, against Zimbabwe in November from a winning position.

Bangladesh:

Bangladesh’s last T20I win against a top side was against Pakistan in April last year. Head coach Hathurusingha said that he wanted his players to understand their roles, especially on the batting front. The return of Shakib Al Hasan and Soumya Sarkar will ease Bangladesh’s concerns about building a settled combination. Shakib had gone on paternity leave and missed the last two T20s against Zimbabwe while Sarkar missed both the ODIs and T20s because of a side strain.

Much of the home side’s focus in their successful 2015 was on ODI cricket. Now they start the new year playing T20s exclusively, and as such their training method has had to go through some changes. This was evident from the practice sessions as the coach conducted a long session that was all about specific skills like throwing on the turn, playing specific shots, taking catches at deep midwicket and sweeper cover. How much it keeps evolving to be more and more attuned to T20s is going to be an interesting point as they gear up for their first of three 20-over assignments.

Bangladesh has named the uncapped trio of Shuvagata Hom, Abu Hider and Nurul Hasan in their 14-man squad for the first two matches while Liton Das, Nasir Hossain, Jubair Hossain, Anamul Haque and Kamrul Islam Rabbi, who were part of the previous T20 squad, have been left out. Among the three newcomers, left-arm paceman Hider performed the best in the BPL, with 21 wickets for eventual champions Comilla Victorians. Shuvagata also did well, playing for the same team, while wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul, who didn’t have a great BPL, has been selected for his consistent performances in domestic cricket and for Bangladesh A.

Zimbabwe:

With Zimbabwe looking to play many more T20s after Bangladesh and before the World T20, head coach Dave Whatmore said that the returning trio of Vusi Sibanda, Brian Vitori, and Sean Williams will get a chance to play. Though, he conceded that Zimbabwe had not fielded their best team for quite a while. Keeping in view the World T20 and conditions in India, the team is looking for flexibility.

All eyes will be on the talented yet inconsistent Sibanda who had been in terrible form over the past two years. His last fifty in international cricket had come in August 2013, and since then he has averaged 16.34 in 24 matches across formats. He has not played for Zimbabwe since July 2015, but his recent domestic record shows clear signs of improvement. This past December, he struck back-to-back fifties in List A cricket and racked up three fifty-plus scores in four innings in first-class cricket including 140 and 90 in the same match.

Vitori has spent the same amount of time outside the Zimbabwe team as Sibanda. He comes back as one of four frontline seamers including Neville Madziva, Luke Jongwe and Taurai Muzarabani. Donald Tiripano, who had made his T20I debut a couple of days ago, did not find a place among them. Graeme Cremer will lead the spin attack along with left-armer Tendai Chisoro and Wellington Masakadza.

Tinashe Panyangara and Craig Ervine were notable exceptions, although reports suggested Ervine had caught the flu after scoring 73 in an ODI two weeks ago. Panyangara was picked for the tour of UAE but has not played a single game so far due to injury. The side’s bowling appears thin on experience in the absence of the right-arm swing bowler who has represented his country in 84 international matches.

Squads:

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Arafat Sunny, Nurul Hasan, Shuvagata Hom, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider, Al-Amin Hossain.

Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura, Malcolm Waller, Peter Moor, Sikandar Raza, Graeme Cremer, Hamilton Masakadza, Wellington Masakadza, Richmond Mutumbami, Sean Williams, Chamu Chibhabha, Neville Madziva, Luke Jongwe, Taurai Muzarabani, Tendai Chisoro, Vusi Sibanda, Brian Vitori.

Form guide (last five completed matches, most recent first):

Bangladesh:  LWLLW

Zimbabwe:  LLWLL

1. This will be Bangladesh’s longest T20I series and all matches will be played in Khulna.

2. Shakib Al Hasan is 5 short of completing 50 T20I wickets and needs 157 more to complete 1000 T20I runs. He is currently ICC’s top-ranked all-rounder in the 2 shorter formats of the game.

Schedule:

The four T20Is will be held on January 15, 17, 20 and 22 in Khulna starting at 14.30 IST.