Winning, not experimenting, is Bangladesh priority against Zimbabwe in T20 series

CHATTOGRAM, Bangladesh — Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto ruled out experimenting against Zimbabwe in their five-match series starting on Friday as preparation for the T20 World Cup next month.

“Firstly, I want to win the series,” Shanto said on Thursday. ”It is in our mind that the series is a preparation platform for the T20 World Cup but that doesn’t necessarily mean we'll do a lot of experimenting. We don't want to take them lightly.

“I believe experimenting is not imperative because all 15 players are capable of defeating this Zimbabwe side. So, we will be trying to figure out the areas we can improve and go to the World Cup with a good preparation.”

Bangladesh will be without allrounder Shakib Al Hasan and pacer Mustafizur Rahman for the first three matches.

Shakib is playing in the Dhaka Premier League to improve his match fitness while Mustafizur just returned from the Indian Premier League, where he took 14 wickets in nine matches.

“ IPL is a big tournament, so when a player plays well there, he can take that confidence ," Shanto said. "Mustafizur bowled well on good batting wickets. He has that confidence. His performance will benefit us.”

Zimbabwe lost to Namibia and Uganda in the African leg of qualifying and was unable to reach the T20 World Cup. Shanto dismissed criticism that Zimbabwe, as a non-World Cup team, wasn't a worthy opponent.

“There are no big teams or small teams in T20 cricket," the captain added. "What matters is how we prepare ourselves and how we can gain confidence. I can say the series will be immensely competitive because they are very good team.”

Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh in a Twenty20 series for the first time in 2022 at home. But Bangladesh hasn't lost a white-ball series to Zimbabwe at home since 2001.

“ would be a great memory to take back home,” Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza said. “We've come here with the right mindset, and prepared really well. We’ve come here to win."

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