Bangladesh will host Zimbabwe at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur in the first of a three-Test series starting Friday at 11:30 p.m. ET. Live stream the match by clicking this link.
Both teams will be going all out for a victory and this will be a competitive series as neither team has won a single five-day game in 2014.
Bangladesh has just two wins in 25 matches this year, and those victories came in Twenty20 matches against lowly Afghanistan and Nepal. Former captain Shakib Al Hasan will be back in the lineup after serving a three-month suspension, given to him by the Bangladesh Cricket Board earlier this summer.
Al Hasan will be depended on to contribute immediately as Bangladesh will be without top spinner Abdur Razzak in the opening match. Mominul Haque is Bangladesh's leading run-scorer in Tests this year and will have to contribute from the middle of the order for his team to be successful.
Zimbabwe has played just one Test match this year and lost by nine wickets to South Africa, the current No. 1 team in the world, in August. Still, they are ranked one spot ahead of Bangladesh in the International Cricket Council's global rankings heading into the series.
28-year-old captain Brendan Taylor is the most experienced player and will have to lead Zimbabwe. He recorded a very respectable 93 in the first innings against South Africa and has four centuries and seven half-centuries to his name.
Starting Squads
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt. and wk), Tamim Iqbal, Al-Amin Hossain, Jubair Hossain, Mahmudullah, Marshall Ayub, Mominul Haque, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Shamsur Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Shuvagata Hom, Taijul Islam
Zimbabwe: BRM Taylor (capt.), RW Chakabva (wk), B Chari, TL Chatara, E Chigumbura, CR Ervine, T Kamungozi, H Masakadza, SW Masakadza, WP Masakadza, N Mushangwe, R Mutumbami, J Nyumbu, T Panyangara, V Sibanda, Sikandar Raza, MN Waller
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