Sylhet Stadium set to make Test debut in Zimbabwe tour

Bangladesh are scheduled to host Zimbabwe in October-November for two Tests and three ODIs. Initially, the tour was scheduled to take place in January-February, but security concerns during that time owing to elections in the nation forced the rescheduling of the series. Meanwhile, it has been learned that Sylhet International Cricket Stadium is set to make its Test debut during the tour.

The first Test between the teams, starting November 3, is most likely to take place in Sylhet. The venue has a capacity of 14,000 and is located in North-Eastern Bangladesh. The venue hosted its first international match during the 2014 World T20 and has hosted only seven T20Is thus far. Earlier this year, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka locked horns at the venue.

The new introduction

Bangladesh currently has four active Test venues- Fatullah, Dhaka, Chittagong, and Khulna- as per reports in Cricbuzz. As per the itinerary, Zimbabwe will arrive in Bangladesh on October 16 and will play a couple of practice matches and the international fixtures in their tour. Bangladesh cricket has every reason to cheer as they won the three-match ODI series against the Windies.

After winning the first match in Guyana, Mashrafe Mortaza’s men lost the second match at the same venue. However, Tamim Iqbal’s 11th ODI century coupled with some resolute performances by the bowlers helped them carve a stupendous victory by 18 runs. Subsequently, they won the series 2-1. It was also their first series win outside their home country since 2009.

Rovman Powell threatened with a whirlwind knock of 71 runs off 44 balls in the death overs to inject life back into the match, but his knock went in vain. Mustafizur Rahman had 22 runs to defend and he conceded a six in the very first delivery. Nevertheless, he came back to give away only three runs in his next five balls to win his team the match.

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