A new look Bangladesh will take on Zimbabwe for the first T20 game today (Saturday).
The match starts at 5pm (Bangladesh Time) at Harare Sports Club and will be aired live on T Sports Channel, reports BSS.
This is the first time a Bangladeshi team was formed in this format without any of their five cricketers---Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Tamim Iqbal-termed as 'Fabulous Five' of 'Fab Five'.
Since their debut in the shortest format of the cricket in 2006 against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh played so far 128 matches and at least one of those five was involved in all of those matches. But the streak will be snapped when they will be out to the field for the first game of the series today (Saturday).
Mashrafe retired from this format in 2017 while Tamim announced his retirement officially just before this series. Shakib Al Hasan earlier took a break while Mushfiqur Rahim and regular T20 captain Mahmudullah Riyad were given rest.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) appointed Nurul Hasan Sohan as the interim captain. Bangladesh won 44 matches and lost 81 while the rest of three matches ended in a no result.
Under Mahmudullah's captaincy, Bangladesh won just one game in last 13 encounters, which is why the board lost patience on him.
Statistics showed that Bangladesh had the upper-hand over Zimbabwe, no matter what the format is. Still T20 cricket is the format where the Zimbabwe were able to give the Tigers some torrid times even though Bangladesh won 11 matches and lost 5 in 16 matches between the two sides.
On the other hand, Bangladesh are now on a 19-match winning streak against Zimbabwe in their favoured ODI format.
However, since Zimbabwe will be playing at home, they will be motivated more to win their first ever T20 series against Bangladesh.
"Many people are talking about experiment in this format but we are not going to do any experiment," Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud Sujon said.
Zimbabwe are oozing with confidence after winning the place in the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup but they will miss the services of fast bowlers Blessing Muzarabani and Tendai Chatara who played vital role in helping the side win the Qualifier games earlier this month.
Squads
Bangladesh: Nurul Hasan Sohan (Captain), Munim Shahriar, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Liton Das, Afif Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Parvez Hossain Emon.
Zimbabwe: Ryan Burl, Regis Chakabva (wk), Tanaka Chivanga, Craig Ervine (capt), Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tony Munyonga, Richard Ngarava, Victor Nyauchi, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba, Sean Williams.
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