Ban v Zim 4th T20I Preview: The series finale promising a cracking contest

Zimbabwe’s win in the third T20I has made the final contest an exciting prospect. Bangladesh is leading 2-1 but in the previous match got a glimpse of what the visitors could produce. While the home side will look to seal the series, the Zimbabweans will be eyeing to finish it on even terms and produce another solid performance.

Bangladesh:

Bangladesh may continue its experiment with the playing XI yet the plan will remain to win. They played four debutants, three of whom were playing at the international level for the first time. Except Sabbir Rahman, none of the other regular players performed. He has been Bangladesh’s most consistent performer in the series so far. He has possibly secured the No. 3 spot for the immediate future, with his ability to pick up the pace of the innings.

Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny could all make the playing XI with the series on the line. Abu Hider and Mosaddek Hossain could be retained while Imrul Kayes may lose out with Soumya Sarkar continuing to open the innings. Khulna has been kind to batsmen so far and it will continue to be the same in this game with no rain forecast and the hosts will look to bat their opposition out of the game should they make first use of the surface.

Zimbabwe:

Malcolm Waller was the main man while Hamilton Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda started off well before Sean Williams and Waller took up the quick run-making in the previous game. The form of the top order is encouraging for the visitors. They struck eight sixes that did the maximum damage for the home side. Their spin attack – Tendai Chisoro, Graeme Cremer and Sikandar Raza – took the game away from Bangladesh with wickets and by controlling the scoring rate and will look to do the same in the final match.

Zimbabwe received a blow on the eve of the match when the ICC announced that left-arm swing bowler Brian Vitori was reported for a suspect bowling action. However, he will be available for the fourth game. Graeme Cremer is the bowling leader and has proved that he can provide a breakthrough and if not, he can keep things tight with accurate leg spin. Peter Moor could make way for designated captain Elton Chigumbura. Chamu Chibhabha could also play, given that Dav Whatmore had said that everyone will get at least one game.

Form guide: (last five matches, most recent first)

Bangladesh: LWWLW

Zimbabwe: WLLLL

Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Sabbir Rahman, 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mosaddek Hossain, 7 Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 9 Arafat Sunny, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Abu Hider

Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Vusi Sibanda, 3 Chamu Chibhabha, 4 Sean Williams, 5 Malcolm Waller, 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 8 Richmond Mutumbami (wk), 9 Graeme Cremer, 10 Tendai Chisoro, 11 Taurai Muzarabani

Stats:

1. The match will be Bangladesh’s 50th T20I match. Both teams played their first T20I at this ground in 2006.

2. Malcolm Waller now has two innings with a 200-plus strike-rate after his 23-ball 49 in the previous game (a minimum of 20 balls faced). The only other Zimbabwe player to do so is Elton Chigumbura.