A youthful Zimbabwe senior men’s cricket team goes into the first One Day International (ODI) against Bangladesh on Friday as the underdogs, only banking on home conditions and the vociferous Harare Sports Club crowd to help them cause an upset.
Winning the first match will set the tone for the series and bring self-belief to a young team.
The home team will be missing the services of their white ball and Test captains, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams, respectively.
Ervine, who was carrying a niggle was rested so that he could fully recuperate in time for India at home and Australia away.
Williams was granted compassionate leave to deal with some personal issues.
This has opened the door for the return of top-order batsman Tarisai Musakanda into the squad and opener Takudzwanashe Kaitano.
Tadiwanashe Marumani, who was with the team since the T20 World Cup qualifiers but did not get a match, made it into the team alongside Tony Munyonga and Innocent Kaia.
Sikandar Raza, enjoying a purple patch with the bat, will have to shoulder all the Zimbabwe batting burden and carry his team home.
Experienced wicketkeeper-batsman Regis Chakabva, the stand-in captain in the absence of Ervine, will have to play a captain’s innings if Zimbabwe is to end the Tiger’s dominance over them in ODIs.
The spotlight will again be on Ryan Burl after his record-breaking 34 runs in an over in the T20I series decider a couple of days ago.
There is an exciting competition in the bowling department, with Brad Evans and Victor Nyauchi showing their hunger and desire with their gutsy performances in the T20I series victory.
With Richard Ngarava, who was rested in the final T20 back for the first ODI, head coach Dave Houghton and his technical team will have a good headache on who to leave out among the pacers.
But in the spin department, Wellington Masakadza will lead with his left-arm spin while Raza and Wessly Madhevere can chip with their off-breaks.
Khaled Mahmud, the Bangladesh team director, was quoted in some sections of the media saying that losing the just-ended T20I series to Zimbabwe was a disgrace.
This should fire up the hosts and try to show that their T20I series victory was not a fluke.
Bangladesh welcomes a host of their senior players in captain Tamim Iqbal, Mushifiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah, who played in the final T20I.
The last time Bangladesh visited Southern Africa, they shocked South Africa, beating them 2-1 in a Super League ODI series.
Just before they came to Zimbabwe, they humbled West Indies in their backyard 3-0 in the ODI series underlying how much they favour this version of the game.
Taskin Ahmed, who starred with the ball in the series against South Africa, will spearhead the visitors’ pace attack.
The ground curator must not produce a spinning track. Bangladesh will hurt the Chevrons like they did to West Indies on spinning Guyana tracks.
Friday’s match is Houghton’s first ODI since he took over last month.
It will be another test of the positive brand of cricket the team is playing and how they go about it in the 50-over format.
The future of Zimbabwe cricket will be on display with only Raza and Chakabva in their 30s.
This is a chance for the young players to make a statement that Zimbabwe cricket’s future is bright.
Possible Line up
Innocent Kaia
Takudzwanashe Kaitano
Regis Chakabva
Wessly Madhevere
Sikandar Raza
Milton Shumba
Ryan Burl
Luke Jongwe
Wellington Masakadza
Victor Nyauchi
Richard Ngarava
