Tigers bat in first meet with Zim at WC

Bangladesh have won the toss and elected to bat first in their T20 World Cup Super 12 clash against Zimbabwe at the iconic Gabba on Sunday.  

Even though it probably would be hard to believe for regular followers of Bangladesh cricket, this is the first time that the Tigers are taking on their familiar foe Zimbabwe for the first time in a World Cup clash.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) have held plenty of bilateral series over the years which only makes it hard to fathom that these two sides have never met at either of the 50-over World Cup or the T20 World Cup.

For this game, Bangladesh have made one change. The Tigers brought back Yasir Ali into the eleven in place of all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who played in the Tigers' record 104-run loss to South Africa in the last game. 

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan, meanwhile, said that they would like to forget what happened in the last game. 

"It's a dry wicket, we want to put runs on the board. We want to forget the last game. Zimbabwe are on a high, so we have to do well. Both teams know each other," Shakib said during the toss. 

Zimbabwe, however, have gone with the squad that won against Pakistan by one run in their previous game.  

Bangladesh have the overall T20I head-to-head record in favour of them against Zimbabwe, with the Tigers winning 12 of the 19 played. But Zimbabwe have won the last bilateral series between them as they beat Bangladesh 2-1 in a home T20I series in July-August this year.

Also, the spirited Zimbabwe received a massive boost recently after defeating tournament favourites Pakistan. The African nation also made it to the Super 12s as champions from the first round. 

The Shakib Al Hasan-led Bangladesh will only be hoping to turn around their fortunes with a win today and stay afloat in the mega event while Zimbabwe will be hoping to build on their win against Pakistan and make their case stronger for a place in the semifinals. 

Playing XIs:

Bangladesh: 1 Soumya Sarkar, 2 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 3 Litton Das, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Afif Hossain, 6 Yasir Ali, 7 Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Mosaddek Hossain, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Hasan Mahmud, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Zimbabwe: 1 Wessley Madhevere, 2 Craig Ervine (capt), 3 Milton Shumba, 4 Sean Williams, 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Regis Chakabva (wk), 7 Ryan Burl, 8 Tendai Chatara, 9 Brad Evans, 10 Richard Ngarava, 11 Blessing Muzarabani