Bangladesh, Zimbabwe meet for first time at WC

Even though it probably would be hard to believe for regular followers of Bangladesh cricket, the Tigers will be taking on a familiar foe, Zimbabwe, for the first time in a World Cup clash at the iconic Gabba on Sunday.

The Super 12 fixture of the ongoing T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am (BST). The match will be telecast live on T Sports and GTV.

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.

The two sides head into the game on the back of contrasting scenarios. Advanced to Group 2 as champions from the first round, Zimbabwe have so far won three of their four completed matches in the tournament. Their last win, a one-run victory, was against favourites Pakistan and the Sikandar Raza-inspired Zimbabwe will hope to only build on that and make their case stronger for a place in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's T20 World Cup campaign was jolted by a record 104-run loss to South Africa in their previous game in Sydney. Bangladesh, however, had begun the tournament with a win over the Netherlands, which was also the Tigers' first victory at the Super 12 stage at the T20 World Cup.

And Shakib Al Hasan's side will look to bounce back, even though they will surely not be the favourites going into this tie.

"The wicket looks like a typical Gabba wicket. It'll have good pace, bounce and carry. Maybe a little bit of initial movement early on, but I think a very good batting wicket with a fast outfield that would have value for shots. If you can time the ball into pockets, it'll be a good game, a high-scoring, 160, 170 kind of game," Bangladesh technical consultant Sridharan Sriram predicted how the pitch might behave today.

There will be concerns for Bangladesh in the batting department, which has not been firing consistently in recent times. And with the way Zimbabwe defended a modest 130 against Pakistan, the Tigers will need to be at their very best with the willow if they are to take all two points from this encounter.