Bangladesh look to avoid series whitewash against Zimbabwe

BD face Zimbabwe today

FE Team | Published: July 10, 2026 23:00:37

Bangladesh will look to avoid a whitewash against Zimbabwe in their third ODI series on Saturday as they were unable to overcome batting struggles in Harare's conditions despite performing well at home last few months, report agencies.
The Tigers were dismissed for low totals in both innings of the one-off Test, resulting in a defeat of an innings and 82 runs last month before being bowled out for 116 while chasing 142 in the opening ODI, losing by 25 runs.
In the 2nd ODI at the same venue, Bangladesh were defeated by 13 runs on Thursday enabling Zimbabwe to take an unassailable 2-0 lead. The Tigers were dismissed for 234 after Zimbabwe scored 247-6.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh batting coach Mohammad Ashraful said the batters are yet to fully adapt to the bigger boundaries and extra bounce.
In a video message by BCB, Ashraful said, "In the last seven months, Bangladeshi batters have played consistently well on home soil. However, due to the conditions in Zimbabwe, it was not possible to maintain that rhythm."
Hinting at elements of misfortune, he said some well-timed shots from Bangladesh batters found fielders during the first ODI.
"In Bangladesh, games are usually played with boundaries of 60 to 65 meters. But in Harare, the boundaries are around 73 to 75 meters. As a result, shots that easily go for boundaries at home are within the reach of fielders here.
Our batters have not yet fully adapted to this change," he also said.
The former Bangladesh captain further said the Harare pitch has offered more assistance to pace bowlers than the surfaces the team has recently encountered at home.
"There is extra bounce on the wicket here. Although we have played on good batting wickets in Bangladesh over the last seven months, that extra bounce is creating a different challenge in these conditions," Ashraful added.
Meanwhile, Richard Ngarava will captain Zimbabwe's test and ODI sides while veteran Sikandar Raza is retained as T20 captain, the country's cricket board said in a statement on Friday.
Ngarava made his captaincy debut in the one-off Test against Bangladesh at Harare and was also in charge for their two ODI wins over Bangladesh this week.