Bangladesh tour of Zimbabwe 2021. Only one Test and three ODI will be played in this tour. Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque insisted that they will wait until the last minute for Tamim Iqbal as they head for the lone Test against Zimbabwe scheduled at Harare from July 7.
Tamim Iqbal got injure
Tamim is nursing a knee injury that he had suffered during the Sri Lanka tour and aggravated it in the first round of the just concluded Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier League T20.
Tamim was forced to skip the super league phase of the tournament and was not included in the lone practice game though he came and batted in the second innings, making an 18-ball 30.
Cricbuzz understands that Tamim did not feel good after the practice game as the pain seemed to have increased, though Mominul insisted that they are not losing all their hope yet.
Read More: Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe Only Test Match
”Tamim Bhai is very important for us. We will wait for him till tomorrow. Today he will practice with us and will decide on tomorrow,” Mominul told reporters ahead of the Test match at Harare Sports Club.
“Tamim bhai is very important to Bangladesh and that is the reason why we are taking time for his injury update,” he said adding that he is relieved to get Mushfiqur Rahim back in the playing as he recovered sufficiently from his finger injury.
”Mushfiqur bhai is definitely going to play he is totally fit,” he said. Mominul added that he is ready to accept anything that will be offered to him in terms of the pitch conditions.
”It is difficult to say without seeing the wicket that we hope to see today but we are prepared for anything,” said Mominul. ”In the last series I mean eight years back we saw pacers dominate. But in the last couple of series, we observed the advantage of both seam bowlers and spinners.”
“Most of the time our approach depends on the condition rather than anything else. In our home we depend on the spinners whereas away pacers and batsmen play a vital role,” he said adding that he is delighted to have Shakib Al Hasan back in the Test fold.
“The return of Shakib bhai will be helpful as it helps us increase a batsman by reducing a bowler and the team combination might be 7 batsmen with 4 bowlers,” he added.
Mominul added that even though he was concerned initially about their preparation coming into a Test match on the back of some T20 cricket, he is now pleased with the time spent with the red-ball over the last few days.
”I was a bit concerned regarding our preparation but that is gone now as we have been practicing with red ball for a week after our arrival in Harare. We had a nice warm-up match and everyone was involved there,” he said.
Zimbabwean stand-in-skipper Brendan Taylor said that his side will be looking to exploit Bangladesh's weakness against the pacers. ”We would like a fast and bouncy track,” he said. “Hopefully find the edges. We don't want to play into their hands with something too slow. They have an experienced line-up. It is the beauty of our home conditions. Hopefully, it can play into our hands a little bit. We know we are going up against a very good team.
“They have given us some tough times over the years so it is nice to be back home obviously, and try to play to our strength here. They have a full-strength side at the moment, we expect some tough challenges. But we are looking forward to it,” he said adding that they had a long discussion after their home series against Pakistan and hope to fare better this time around.
“I think we were a bit rusty in those Test matches (against Pakistan). We were not up to the mark. We have done a lot of work and discussions since then. I think the guys are better prepared this time around. We are looking to stamp our mark with the bat, and do something for our bowlers to work with,” he said adding that he is expecting the young cricketers to take the opportunity.
Zimbabwe will miss the services of Sean Williams and Craig Ervine for the one-off Test against Bangladesh as both the players have gone into self-isolation after coming in contact with Covid-positive family members.
Conclusion
”We are missing a few experienced players but we have some young and exciting players coming through. It is a great opportunity for them to see where they stand. It is an exciting time for Zimbabwe cricket,” Taylor concluded.
