All posts by csb10.top

Suresh Raina, who is India’s captain for the limited-overs leg of the tour of West Indies, has admitted there will be huge expectations from his team despite the absence of some big names.”[Being captain] is a great challenge to me and I’m really looking forward to that,” Raina said on the team’s arrival in the Caribbean. “We have good players who want to do well in this series. They have done well in first-class cricket and the IPL or in the World Cup team.”For the ODIs, India will be without regular captain MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, and Zaheer Khan, who have been rested, while Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag miss out through injury or illness. Dhoni and Zaheer are set to return for the Tests, but the other seniors are set to miss the entire series. The tour will also be Duncan Fletcher’s first assignment with the Indian side.Raina said the senior players “deserved a break” and was hopeful the youngsters in the squad would make the most of the opportunity. “We have a young team here and they are focussed on doing well for India and I am excited to see how they perform over the next few weeks.”West Indies lost their recent ODI series to Pakistan and will once again be without opener Chris Gayle, who was the top run-getter in the IPL, but has been left out for the first two ODIs. When India last played ODIs in the West Indies in 2006, they lost 1-4. The two teams subsequently met in the World Cup earlier this year when India won by 80 runs in Chennai, en route to their tournament triumph. Raina, however, said India would not be complacent. “The West Indies team has been playing good cricket for the past few months and we are not going to take them lightly,” he said.The only Twenty20 game will be played on Saturday at Port of Spain, while the five-match ODI series begins at the same venue on June 6.Meanwhile West Indies beat the High Performance Centre (HPC) team by 11 runs in a practice Twenty20 game in Couva on Thursday. Batting first, West Indies were restricted to 145 in their 20 overs on what appeared to be a good batting pitch. Opener Lendl Simmons carried on his good form from the Pakistan series, top-scoring with a rapid 43, while Danza Hyatt made 22.Uncapped left-arm seamer Krishmar Santokie, who has been picked in the Twenty20 squad, and Christopher Barnwell shared two wickets apiece as HPC were restricted to 134 for 6. Wicketkeeper-batsman Shane Dowrich was their mainstay with 52 off 41 balls.

ScorecardNottinghamshire Outlaws kept alive their faint hopes of qualification from Group C of the Clydesdale Bank 40 with a 41-run victory over Gloucestershire Gladiators.After Adam Voges (74) and Riki Wessels (51) had led the hosts to 270 for 9 from their 40 overs, Paul Franks picked up five for 43 as Gloucestershire were bowled out for 229. The visitors were in contention until the 35th over, bowled by Franks, who yorked both Gloucestershire’s top scorer Ed Young (50) and Jon Batty to swing the game Nottinghamshire’s way.It was Franks’ best domestic one-day figures since May 2000 and the third five-wicket haul of his career, helping Nottinghamshire move up to fourth in their group having played five matches.The home side’s total of 270 always looked competitive with Gloucestershire batting second under the Trent Bridge floodlights. Wessels made an impressive home debut as he added 88 for the second wicket with Samit Patel before both were caught in the deep in consecutive overs from Alex Gidman.Patel’s cause was helped by being dropped three times, while the Gladiators also gave away 32 extras in a sloppy display in the field. The dismissal of Steven Mullaney in the next over appeared to check the Nottinghamshire’s momentum, but Voges consolidated in partnership with Chris Read (39) before the pair took the batting powerplay in the 32nd over and wreaked havoc.With 59 runs scored in the powerplay and 100 in the final 10 overs, the pair’s combination of quick running between the wickets and strong hitting put Nottinghamshire firmly in charge, despite a late flurry of wickets at the death. Voges in particular excelled with seven boundaries in his 60-ball innings before he became one of three wickets for Jon Lewis.Needing close to seven runs an over to win from the start, Gloucestershire came out swinging, with Alex Gidman hitting seven fours off 38 balls before he feathered a thin edge off Andre Adams to Read behind the stumps.Franks’ arrival proved crucial as he removed Chris Taylor lbw for 34 and Kane Williamson, caught at midwicket for 35, in consecutive overs. Ireland’s World Cup hero and former Nottinghamshire player Kevin O’Brien ran himself out before Young displayed a strong bottom hand to keep Gloucestershire hopes alive with a 37-ball 50.But when Franks bowled Young and Batty the game was all but finished, with Ian Saxelby miscuing to cover and Franks having Lewis caught at point to close out the match, with Will Gidman absent hurt.

India’s already-depleted squad for the tour of the West Indies has suffered further setbacks: shoulder injuries to Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh’s respiratory infection, and Sachin Tendulkar’s wish to spend time with his family have ruled the four players out of the whole trip. This will be the first instance of Tendulkar missing an entire Test series since he sat out India’s previous full tour of the Caribbean in 2006. Meanwhile, Cheteshwar Pujara lost the chance to cement his place in the Test side as a knee injury picked up in the IPL made him unavailable.Expectedly, a number of uncapped players and those trying to make comebacks got their chance. Suresh Raina got a second chance at ODI captaincy in Gambhir’s absence (MS Dhoni was rested for the limited-overs leg of the tour), and Manoj Tiwary and Shikhar Dhawan got a chance to add to their one ODI cap each. S Badrinath made a Test comeback, but the bigger news remained the uncapped players in the Test squad: Virat Kohli and Abhinav Mukund, who is almost certain to open with his Tamil Nadu team-mate M Vijay.Mukund, a 21-year-old left-hand batsman, has impressive first-class numbers to back him: an average close to 60 over 40 matches and 13 centuries, including a triple-ton. Vijay has been an automatic choice as Test opener every time either Gambhir or Sehwag is unavailable. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman provide the experience in the middle order, which leaves Kohli, Raina and Badrinath fighting for the two remaining slots.Jaidev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav, who were picked inexplicably ahead of Abhimanyu Mithun for the South Africa tour, got the boot, making way for Munaf Patel and an extra spinner in Amit Mishra. Pragyan Ojha, who was part of India’s Test squad to South Africa but missed all ODI cricket since, returned too. Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh, though, remained the likely first-choice attack.Parthiv Patel replaced Wriddhiman Saha as Dhoni’s wicketkeeping cover in the Test squad, not least because he can open the innings should Mukund struggle or should the team management not consider him ready to debut.As expected, the selection meeting in Chennai, attended by the new coach Duncan Fletcher, was a long affair lasting more than two hours. Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of selectors, said that Fletcher’s “intelligent inputs” were utilised completely in picking the “best”available team.The timing of the Test selection is surprisingly early: the first Test begins on June 20, and the selectors could have waited longer to see if any of the injuries or illnesses could have neared healing. The long recovery period associated with the injuries to Sehwag and Gambhir would have been a factor. And because of the pneumonitis in his left lung, we will never know if Yuvraj would have been considered for a Test comeback, on the back of his World Cup heroics.In all, India are without Tendulkar, Dhoni, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Gambhir and Ashish Nehra for the ODIs. They will also have to do without Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir and Pujara for the Tests.Test squad: MS Dhoni (capt), VVS Laxman (vc), M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel.Limited-overs squad: Suresh Raina (capt), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh (vc), Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outOne adventure too many: Sunny Sohal plays the fatal reverse-heave after the early onslaught•AFP

Sunny Sohal was like a millionaire spending the last night of his life in Las Vegas, but as it often happens in heist films, the casino owners withstood the brilliant early hand. Sohal’s 30-ball 56, full of extravagant risks, had turned a formidable chase into a regulation one, but Chennai Super Kings waited for the final fatal risk before closing in on the rest to deny them the required 95 off 79 deliveries.It was a night of madness, of silly dropped chances and missed run-outs, of Sohal’s extraordinary stroke-play; but the class in the Chennai attack brought the decisive sanity. It was difficult, though, to keep one’s wits when Sohal was going. It seemed he could do no wrong, even when he was like a deer in the headlights against bouncers from Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel. Twice he nearly shut his eyes hoping for the best, twice the ball found some part of the bat to fly over the keeper.Sohal drove it home by making room often and lofting the pace bowlers over cover, and the spinners over long-on, cow corner and midwicket, wherever his arc took them. He hit six fours and four sixes in that spell of play. However, like an amateur gambler, he became too adventurous and tried three reverse-heaves off spin. Two he failed to connect, and the third took the stumps. At 71 for 1 in the seventh over, though, the situation called for sensible batting.MS Dhoni let Shadab Jakati and Suraj Randiv go through a few quiet overs that resulted in Shikhar Dhawan’s wicket. Jakati’s effort of 2 for 23 allowed Dhoni to hold back his best overs. Bollinger, R Ashwin and Morkel could now bowl the last seven overs between them. Fifty-eight were required off those overs, and Deccan were still slight favourites.Not for long. Morkel started the slide with a short ball that got Bharat Chipli’s wicket. Ashwin followed it up with a three-run over. Forty-eight off 30 didn’t sound quite that easy now. Kumar Sangakkara was forced to manufacture a flick over fine leg, and Bollinger hit the middle stump. Given the form Cameron White and JP Duminy are in, it was game over right there. And so it was as the duo duly holed out.Deccan’s effort in the field was almost a mirror reflection of their chase. On a surface as tired as the whole tournament, they stifled Chennai for the better part of their innings, but fielded poorly and bowled ordinarily at the death to let the hosts off the hook. Hussey enjoyed his fourth life in six IPL innings this year, Suresh Raina discovered two pleasantly surprising chances, and Morkel laid into gentle length balls in the 19th over to hurt Deccan.White’s 13 off 18 wasn’t his first mistake of the night. He had dropped a sitter from Hussey. Had he taken that catch, Hussey would have been dismissed for 10, Pragyan Ojha would have got his second wicket in his first over, and Chennai would have been 19 for 2. As it usually happens – ask Kamran Akmal and friends for more – Hussey went on to make them pay with 36 more.Harmeet Singh then proceeded to let Raina off, and he went from 25 off 21 to 59 off 35 when eventually caught after another life. There was some vengeful slog-sweeping and some leg-side bowling that helped his innings. Morkel, though, provided the exclamation to Deccan’s horror effort in the field when he hit Ishant Sharma for three back-to-back sixes. That 21-run over in the end provided Chennai with the buffer to absorb Sohal’s onslaught. And Morkel, with 3 for 38, played a significant part in the second half as well.

Ross Taylor, New Zealand’s stand-in captain, has said that if technology cannot be conclusive it should just not be used. Taylor’s remarks came in the wake of the controversial return catch of Mahela Jayawardene during the Sri Lanka innings, which was pouched spectacularly by Nathan McCullum who threw himself to his right to hold the catch inches above the ground. But the third umpire ruled the decision against New Zealand.Jayawardene went for a premeditated push towards the leg side, but was surprised by a slower delivery from McCullum which arrived late. Having rushed into the shot, Jayawardene could only watch the ball loop towards the unmanned space at silly mid-on. But McCullum leaped from the spot where he had finished his follow-through as if he was standing on a diving board. Amazingly he managed to get the tips of the fingers of his outstretched right hand under the ball.Viewed from the press box, which is behind the bowler’s arm, the first reaction was that the catch was taken on the first bounce. But numerous close replays indicated McCullum had actually held one of the catches of the tournament. His reaction was nothing short of ecstatic: he picked himself up and stamped the ground with one foot and pirouetted delightedly. But Jayawardene had his doubts and asked Asad Rauf, one of the on-field umpires, to refer the decision to the TV umpire. Moments later, third umpire Amiesh Saheba gave Jayawardene the benefit of the doubt, much to the chagrin of McCullum. Along with his captain Ross Taylor, both men argued with the on-field umpire Rauf briefly before leaving with their heads shaking. Simon Doull, the former New Zealand fast bowler, was livid in the commentary box and was adamant about the authenticity of the catch.It was a critical moment in the match when Sri Lanka were struggling at 87 for 2 after 23.1 overs with Jayawardene on 26. “I haven’t seen the catch, I have seen it only live. I thought it was carried, but the third umpire obviously had other things,” Taylor said after the match. “When you generally think that you have taken the catch, it’s your natural instinct. It is disappointing.”Asked if he would prefer the batsman taking a fielder’s words in such a situation, Taylor said he would not rule that out. “It depends upon the person. You look at Jacques Kallis; he asks the fielders if they caught it cleanly and he trusts the words of the fielders. You put it up to the batsman to make the decision and at the end of the day you just hope the technology is right and if the technology is not right, well then don’t use it.”Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s captain and Jayawardene’s batting partner at the time of the incident, differed. According to Sangakkara, his team-mate had the right to ask for a referral. “I was completely blocked from behind. Mahela was very honest and he said he was not sure he caught it cleanly,” Sangakkara said. “Mahela is someone who walks when he nicks it and if he saw Nathan had taken a clean catch he wouldn’t have come around. He wasn’t very sure and the umpires weren’t sure because they were unsighted, so they checked with the technology and they went in favour of Mahela.”Sangakkara pointed out that during the New Zealand innings, Brendon McCullum had also waited for the third umpire’s ruling on a low catch held at slip by Jayawardene, though it is not certain whether that was simply done in retaliation. “That’s the way the game is played,” he said. “We had Brendon McCullum stand his ground when Mahela took that catch and they went upstairs and it was proved that it was a clean catch. So it can go either way.”

Sourav Ganguly, who failed to attract bids from any of the 10 IPL franchises during the auction on January 8 and 9, has said he wasn’t bought for reasons that have nothing to do with cricket, and that he doesn’t see a place for himself in the Kolkata Knight Riders set-up.Kolkata, a team Ganguly led in the first and third seasons of the tournament, had offered him a role within the organisation. “Shah Rukh Khan spoke to me about a possible role as mentor. I don’t think Kolkata Knight Riders needs a mentor. I see no role there,” Ganguly told . The team already has enough expertise in [Dav] Whatmore and [Wasim] Akram. I wanted to play and not mentor the team. I didn’t see myself in the sort of a role [Anil] Kumble has chosen [with Royal Challengers Bangalore].”The franchise struggled to produce consistent results on the field, and Ganguly said that was because the team suffered from a “confidence problem”. “I felt there was panic every time we lost. There was panic among the owners, panic among the players. But you need continuity in a team to deliver, like Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.”When we don’t win three seasons in a row, there’s an opportunity to rebuild. I understand Kolkata felt they deserved better and when they got an opportunity to rebuild the team, they wanted to bring in some fresh faces.”He also expressed disbelief that none of the franchises thought he was worth a place based on his cricketing ability. “I had the runs. Players of my age, [Adam] Gilchrist, [Rahul] Dravid and [VVS] Laxman are still actively involved. I haven’t been able to put the finger on the button why I was left out. Cricketing logic and past form suggests I should have been picked. There are several reasons I could have been dropped, but not for cricket.”At the same time, Ganguly rubbished the perception that he comes with baggage and plays politics. “I have played cricket, five years as captain and eight years under different skippers. I have helped in building what the Indian team is today. And this doesn’t come by playing politics.”The Kochi franchise did write to the BCCI after the auction to ask if they could sign Ganguly, but some of the other franchises objected to the proposal, and it was shelved, to Ganguly’s dismay. “I was very disappointed when the franchises stalled the repurchase. The rules of the IPL have been changed in the past. Every rule in sport should give an opportunity to play, not keep them out. Whether it’s Sourav Ganguly today or some other player sometime.”When he is finally done playing the game, Ganguly plans to turn his attention to running it. “I am mentally preparing myself for an administrator’s role at some stage. I would love to be part of the Cricket Association of Bengal at some point of my life. I also would love to coach the Indian cricket team as well.”

Tests at the Basin Reserve have lately made a cruel habit of exposing the fragility of New Zealand’s batting. In the six most recent matches at the venue, the home side have mustered an average first innings total of 196. Of these, they have lost four and won just one – against Bangladesh in 2008. While they have performed marginally better this time around, 260 for six on day one on a flat Wellington wicket, while the opposition bowlers battled gusts exceeding 80 kph at one end, is not the kind of patience and discipline John Wright would have hoped for from his top order after their farcical collapse in Hamilton.Martin Guptill threw it away flashing at a wide one, James Franklin was needlessly caught behind down the legside and Jesse Ryder collected his second golden duck in a row, prodding lamely at a delivery he could have easily watched through to the keeper. Even Ross Taylor, New Zealand’s top scorer on day one, was out to an injudicious stroke, chasing a wide Wahab Riaz delivery to give Adnan Akmal his fifth scalp of the day. “There were some missed opportunities,” Taylor said. “A couple of players were a bit unlucky and were almost bored out. There were a few wide ones, and myself and Guptill – we did all the hard work and got ourselves out.”Taylor made 78 to steady the New Zealand innings after two early blows, cautiously blocking out Abdur Rehman’s left-arm spin from the Scoreboard End instead of being tempted to unleash his signature slog sweep. “I tried to play as straight as possible. When you are searching for form, you look for other things and forget the basics. But when you play straight you give yourself the best chance. I haven’t felt out of nick, but I just haven’t scored the runs. Today was an opportunity where I should have gone on and got three figures, and I didn’t do that.”Pakistan will feel they have the better of the hosts heading into day two, despite allowing Reece Young and Daniel Vettori to dictate terms to them in the closing stages. The Wellington wind was at its most relentless on day one, and a tired Pakistan fielding unit lapsed repeatedly in the evening session, allowing the New Zealand pair to move the score along smartly. “We are probably [down] one or two wickets too many,” Taylor admitted. “But we saw at the end there with the wind, the bowling side is always going to get tired and Youngy and Dan made the most of that at the end of the day.”With Vettori and Young batting well, a trademark lower-order fight-back could well be on the cards for New Zealand, but they will have to see out the Pakistan seamers in the morning to give their side hope of posting a competitive total. “We just wanted to bat four sessions,” Taylor said. “We’ve batted three so far so hopefully we can bat till after lunch tomorrow. It’s going to be tough for that first five to ten overs with that new ball, but if we can get through that then a score of 300 plus is very much in our reach.”The visitors employed defensive field placements early on and waited for the New Zealand batsmen to make mistakes. A similar ploy might well be enough to account for a Pakistan top order that is no less unstable, if a tad more experienced, than the New Zealand line-up.”Whatever total we end up with, we’ve got to decide where to bowl. Perhaps a touch fuller.” Taylor said. “Maybe almost do what they did to us. The spinner was always going to bowl very flat and they put the sweeper out very quickly when they were bowling from the top end. I wouldn’t say it was negative, but it was almost trying to bore you out. It’s still a very good wicket.”

Bangladesh have reduced their preliminary 30-man squad for the World Cup to 23. Nazimuddin, Shamsur Rahman, Sahagir Hossain, Mithun Ali, Nasir Hossain, Shuvogoto Chowdhury and Enamul Haque Jr are the players who have been left out. The remaining 23 players will be of a preparatory camp that begins on January 9 at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Mirpur.All 14 teams participating in the tournament have to announce their final fifteen before January 19.Preliminary Squad: Shakib Al Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Roqibul Hassan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Nazmul Hossain, Naeem Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Abdur Razzak, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Shahriar Nafees, Jahirul Islam, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain, Mahbubul Alam, Dolar Mahmud, Shabbir Rahman, Alok Kapali.

Madhya Pradesh took the crucial first-innings lead against Andhra at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore, and are now favourites to make it to the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals. Andhra’s 230 had started to look a lot bigger when they reduced MP to 19 for 3. But captain Devendra Bundela and Harpreet Singh got the hosts out of trouble with a 178-run partnership for the fourth wicket. After Bundela was caught behind off seamer P Vijaykumar for 48, the 19-year-old Harpreet got his maiden first-class century. MP ended the day at 299 for 7, 69 ahead. Andhra’s opening bowlers had given them some hope in the morning. Vijaykumar dismissed Jalaj Saxena for a duck in the second over, and then Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna took two quick wickets. But Bundela and Harpreet took the game away from Andhra who will need to effect a turnaround and look for a win to qualify for the quarter-finals.
A double-century by Aakash Chopra took Rajasthan to a huge total against Maharashtra at the Golf Club Ground in Nasik. The visitors finished the second day at 551 for 6 with Chopra still unbeaten on 262 – his highest first-class score. Rajasthan had set the base on the first day, getting to 293 for 2 with Chopra batting on 145. They continued to torment Maharashtra on Thursday. Robin Bist got to 81, which was surprisingly only Rajasthan’s second half-century after Chopra’s massive score. Maharashtra’s bowlers had only themselves to blame as they gave away 74 runs in extras – 25 of those coming from no-balls. With a first-innings lead good enough to take either side in to the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals, Rajasthan may not be in a hurry to declare on Friday.

Match Facts

Wednesday, December 1
Start time 09:00 (03:00 GMT)
Brendan Taylor’s inventiveness at the top could determine whether Zimbabwe can stretch Bangladesh•AFP

The Big Picture

With the World Cup round the corner, the cricketing world has its collective eye trained on Bangladesh. By thumping New Zealand 4-0 at home, they have announced themselves as a real threat to the teams in Group B, who will all have to find a way past their spinners in slow and low conditions. The upcoming series against Zimbabwe may not say much about Bangladesh’s development as a cricketing force; they are overwhelming favourites to put it past a side they have bossed in recent times. It will, however, offer some indication about what to expect from the Mirpur and Chittagong tracks that will host the five matches, and all of Bangladesh’s World Cup league fixtures and quarterfinal, if they make it that far.Zimbabwe’s supporters will look forward to a better show than New Zealand’s. As West Indies and India found out on a couple of occasions earlier in the year, Zimbabwe’s spinners are capable of pulling off the strangling act. Ray Price’s return after missing the South Africa series, and the presence of Graeme Cremer and Prosper Utseya gives them a spin attack that can compete on level terms with the hosts. Add the inventiveness of Brendan Taylor and co. at the top, and Zimbabwe will entertain thoughts of stretching the hosts in the next couple of weeks.Mashrafe Mortaza and Tamim Iqbal return to the fold, making Bangladesh even more formidable, on paper, than they were against New Zealand. It’s not often that they go into a series as favourites, and having their feet in the ground will be the biggest challenge for Shakib Al Hasan’s side.

Form guide

(most recent first)
Bangladesh: WWWWL
Zimbabwe: LLLLLW

Watch out for…

Tamim Iqbal will be itching to hit the ground running after missing in action with an injury to his left wrist and the subsequent surgery. Being a batsman who scores heavily square of the wicket on both sides, Tamim’s method will require the wrist to be in good shape. Prior to the injury he was in sublime form across formats, muscling his way to the ‘s Test Player of the Year award. Bangladesh will hope that he has retained his touch through the break.In his last 11 innings, Brendan Taylor has slammed 578 runs including two unbeaten tons and three other scores in excess of 70. His aggressive style, aided by Chamu Chibhabha and Tatenda Taibu, will seek to dictate terms before Shakib plays the spin card. Can Bangladesh’s seamers nip Taylor’s attack in the bud? If they don’t, his tussle with the spinners could make for some interesting viewing.

Pitch and conditions

Expect the Shere Bangla Stadium to play true to character. In day matches, scores of around 220 have in general proved to be competitive, so the key for the batsmen will be to avoid over-reaching. The early morning start in comparatively cooler climes could interest the likes of Mortaza, but the course of the match could be decided by the slow turn on offer as the game wears on.

Teams

Tamim returns to join Imrul Kayes at the top of the order for the hosts. Mohammad Ashraful is back in the mix; will he find a place in the starting XI?Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Junaid Siddique, 4 Raqibul Hasan / Mohammad Ashraful, 5 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Abdur Razzak, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Suhrawadi Shuvo
Seamers Chris Mpofu and Keegan Meth impressed in Zimbabwe’s defeat in the tour game against Bangladesh Cricket Board XI. A lot will be expected from them against the home team’s powerful top five before the spinners can come into play.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Brendan Taylor, 3 Chamu Chibhabha, 4 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 5 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 6 Craig Ervine, 7 Keegan Meth, 8 Prosper Utseya, 9 Graeme Cremer, 10 Raymond Price, 11 Chris Mpofu

Stats and trivia

• The two teams have clashed 47 times, with Bangladesh winning 25 matches
• Ashraful, with 3354 runs, is by far Bangladesh’s highest run-getter in ODIs. Shakib and Tamim come next.
• Elton Chigumbura has the worst economy-rate among bowlers who have played at least 50 one-dayers and taken 50 wickets

Quotes

“I think it’ll be a bit different series than the one against the Kiwis as we have had the experience to play in Bangladesh quite often.”
“We are at home; it is our wicket, our conditions and our crowd. They should feel a little scared.”