Bangladesh start T20 World Cup preparations with Zimbabwe series

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Zimbabwe are in Bangladesh for a five-match T20I series, starting from May 3. They will play the first three matches in Chattogram before Dhaka hosts the remaining two games. Here are the main talking points for the series.

Will it be competitive?

Zimbabwe won their last bilateral T20I series against Bangladesh, in 2022. It doesn't necessarily make them favourites in this series, but it is a strong reminder that Bangladesh can't treat Zimbabwe as pushovers. The fans' theory that the BCB organises a series against Zimbabwe only when Bangladesh are in trouble is a strange one. But it has grown arms and legs in Bangladesh over the years, which dilutes the Zimbabwe-Bangladesh contests.

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will hope to play the way they did at home in 2022, when they beat Bangladesh for the first time in a T20I series. They beat Bangladesh in the ODIs series as well but are yet to win a white-ball series in Bangladesh since 2001.

T20 World Cup preparations afoot for hosts

The hosts will be without Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman for the first three matches. The selectors gave Shakib time to recover from a long journey from the US, and the chance to prepare himself in the Dhaka Premier League. Mustafizur, meanwhile, returns to Bangladesh from the IPL on Thursday, where he has transformed his bowling form.

Among those in the squad, Litton Das will be desperate for runs after a dry spell against Sri Lanka. Tanzid Hasan, a newcomer in the T20I squad, will also look to fill one of the opening spots with Soumya Sarkar still on the recovery table. Jaker Ali will be keen to add more to his one big knock against Sri Lanka.

Mohammad Saifuddin will also be on his toes on his return to the senior fold after a year and a half due to his back injury. Mahedi Hasan and Tanvir Islam are vying for T20 World Cup slots as the second spinner behind Shakib, while Rishad Hossain will hope to continue his impressive season.

Time to bounce back

Bangladesh's improved T20I run from 2023 halted when Sri Lanka stung them in March this year. They lost the opening game by a slim margin before bouncing back in the second game. While Nuwan Thushara's top-order hat-trick blew them away in the third match, Sri Lanka also exposed mental frailties within the Bangladesh side. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto have to ensure that his team-mates are up for it in the big moments, and have far better concentration than what they showed against Sri Lanka.

What are Zimbabwe up to, lately?

After missing out on the T20 World Cup qualification in November last year, Zimbabwe have also lost series to Ireland and Sri Lanka. Most of their players from the current squad took part in the domestic T20 competition before some of them, playing for the Zimbabwe Emerging side, won the gold medal in the African Games. Zimbabwe have generally been on the down-low in international cricket, although after the Bangladesh series, they play a five-match T20I series against India at home from July 6 to 14. They also play a one-off Test against Ireland in Stormont from July 25.

Pitches and weather

Most of Bangladesh is in the middle of a severe heatwave. Though rain in the coming week is good news for the suffering millions, it could interrupt parts of this T20I series. There's rain in the forecast in Dhaka too next weekend when the two sides play the last two T20Is.