***Official*** Zimbabwe in Bangladesh

[James]

1st ODI - Harare
4 Feb

2nd ODI - Harare
6 Feb

3rd ODI - Harare
9 Feb

4th ODI - Harare
10 Feb

[Craig]

And people say New Zealand playing Sri Lanka three seasons in a row was bad...

[Jungle Jumbo]

Bangladesh Squad

Habibul Bashar (capt), Shahriar Nafees, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Mortaza, Tushar Imran, Mohammad Ashraful, Saqibul Hasan, Mehrab Hossain jnr, Shahadat Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mohammad Sharif, Tapash Baisya, Abdur Razzak, Tamim Iqbal.

Tamim Iqbal is an explosive, 17-year-old opener, rated by many the best young opening batsman in Bangladesh. He is the brother of the not-so-promising Nafis Iqbal and the nephew of former national captain Akram Khan.

Mohammad Sharif is a skiddy, medium-fast bowler who fell out of contention early on in Bangladesh's Test career, but has regularly been among the best performers in recent domestic tournaments.

Tushar Imran is also recalled in place of Nadif Chowdhury, possibly to balance the squad with Tamim's inclusion, although his Dhaka Premier League form has been scratchy of late.

Altogether, I think this is the squad most people wanted to see. Mehrab probably deserves another chance - he's only played a handful of games, but has been struggling of late in domestic cricket and didn't set the world alight in those first few ODIs.

Possible XI:
1 Shahriar Nafees 2 Tamim Iqbal 3 Aftab Ahmed 4 Saqibul Hasan 5 Mohammad Ashraful 6 Habibul Bashar 7 Mushfiqur Rahim 8 Mohammad Rafique 9 Mashrafe Mortaza 10 Abdur Razzak 11 Shahadat Hossain

[LA ICE-E]

well right now bangladesh is just doing zim a favor playing them, just like the australia and the other teams do when playing bang to big a chance to ge better...although if zim played the associates that might even help since they are odi teams now

[Perm]

Big call from the Bangladeshi selectors to leave out a very experienced player in Khaled Mashud, let's hope young Mushfiqur Rahim can do well behind the stumps and cement his place in the side. I would be tempted to give Mehrab another few chances, as you said JJ he didn't set the world on fire but he wasn't a failure either. The only place that is up for grabs IMO is the second opener, and possibly a 3rd seamer to replace Abdur Razzaq.

[NZTailender]

No Saleh?

[James90]

Farhad Reza > Saquibal Hasan.

And I'd still probably have Rajin ahead of Tamim. It's not good relying on Aftab and Ashraful to get through to 50 overs.

[Perm]

Originally Posted by NZTailender

No Saleh?

He's been on the outer since the Champions Trophy I think, the selectors asked him to captain and then they had a little bit of a falling out. Disappointing, he's one of their best batsman but until Bashar retires or Aftab or Saqibul drop in form I can't see him coming into the side.

[Perm]

Originally Posted by James90

Farhad Reza > Saquibal Hasan.

And I'd still probably have Rajin ahead of Tamim. It's not good relying on Aftab and Ashraful to get through to 50 overs.

Disagree, Saqibul has been very good for Bangladesh so far. Agree about Rajin Saleh being better than Tamim though, but I don't think they want a makeshift opener in him or Mohammad Ashraful.

[Jungle Jumbo]

Originally Posted by James90

Farhad Reza > Saquibal Hasan.

And I'd still probably have Rajin ahead of Tamim. It's not good relying on Aftab and Ashraful to get through to 50 overs.

Saqibul's done nothing wrong at all and seems to have made the number four position his own. Farhad hasn't done too much wrong either, with the bat at least, but his medium pace was less than impressive in the Champions Trophy and his DPL form has been dire.

TBH the only concern I have about Tamim's inclusion is his age, and the fact that he could be troubled when he comes up against some proper pace bowlers. For too long now Bangladesh had tried opening with Ashraful and Saleh, who are middle-order strokeplayers. Bashar is probably now consigned to a finishing role. I think most people would want an in-form Saleh in the side, because he's one of the few genuine strokeplayers with a decent temperament, but they needed something new at the top of the order. Not sure why Tushar is in there ahead of Saleh though.

Originally Posted by Perm

Big call from the Bangladeshi selectors to leave out a very experienced player in Khaled Mashud, let's hope young Mushfiqur Rahim can do well behind the stumps and cement his place in the side. I would be tempted to give Mehrab another few chances, as you said JJ he didn't set the world on fire but he wasn't a failure either. The only place that is up for grabs IMO is the second opener, and possibly a 3rd seamer to replace Abdur Razzaq.

Khaled Mashud injured his hand playing for Abahani earlier in the season and only returned to action yesterday. I suppose the selectors want to give him some gametime. His position was under severe doubt anyway though and Rahim could displace him with some decent performances in Zimbabwe.

Agree RE Mehrab, give him another chance. The third seamer is (in my books) unlike to play unless Farhad Reza is given another opportunity, purely because both Rafique and Razzak will be better than them on all but the greenest wickets.

[Prince EWS]

As a Zimbabwean fan, I'm delighted to not see Rajin Saleh selected. I rate him big time (as far as Desh/Zim players go..). I think he should be in the side opening the batting if not batting 4.

As for Tushar's selection though, I'd say he's been given a go because he tends to dominate mediocre attacks - ones far better than what Zim will dish up. His struggles have only really been at the highest level, so he'll probably do well against Zimbabwe. Giving him this series might also give the selectors an idea as to whether his problems in ODIs have been due to the pressure of the situation, or whether he has problems with his technique against good bowling. The pressure and occassion of these matches against Zim will just about match the pressure of any other ODI, but the bowling will be much weaker.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

3-1 Bangladesh.

[LA ICE-E]

i dont know why the selectors are being so b****y to mashud, should be like a sure one for the keeping but he got fined for saying that...plus he's still like 32 or something so he aint that old so mushfiqure should just play on the A team until mashud decides to leave....

[Perm]

Originally Posted by Jungle Jumbo

Khaled Mashud injured his hand playing for Abahani earlier in the season and only returned to action yesterday. I suppose the selectors want to give him some gametime. His position was under severe doubt anyway though and Rahim could displace him with some decent performances in Zimbabwe.

Agree RE Mehrab, give him another chance. The third seamer is (in my books) unlike to play unless Farhad Reza is given another opportunity, purely because both Rafique and Razzak will be better than them on all but the greenest wickets.

Forgot about Mashud injuring his hand, I did read about it but it makes sense now. Hopefully Mushfiqur can do well with his chance here and repay the selectors confidence in dropping a vastly experienced player like Mashud. Agreed about Rafique and Razzaq forming a very good partnership, still a little tough expecting 20 quality overs from Saqibul, Ahsraful, Aftab and Mehrab.

[Jungle Jumbo]

Originally Posted by Perm

Forgot about Mashud injuring his hand, I did read about it but it makes sense now. Hopefully Mushfiqur can do well with his chance here and repay the selectors confidence in dropping a vastly experienced player like Mashud. Agreed about Rafique and Razzaq forming a very good partnership, still a little tough expecting 20 quality overs from Saqibul, Ahsraful, Aftab and Mehrab.

10 overs. Mashrafe, Shahadat (or other seamer) bowl 10 each, as do Razzak and Rafique.