adminSteve Mangongo has been tasked with the challenge of leading Zimbabwe against the Tigers in this series that starts off with the opening Test match at Harare Sports Club this morning and captain Brendan Taylor feels they have what it takes to come out with a positive result.
Zimbabwe recently suffered a series whitewash when they travelled to West Indies while Bangladesh met with mixed fortune on a tour to Sri Lanka where they won one of the three (the other being a no result match) ODIs, losing the on- off T20 after drawing one of the Test matches and losing the second.
Bangladesh captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, is banking on the feel-good factor from their tour of Sri Lanka and feels his lads could be in a better position than their hosts.
The last time the two sides met, in August 201, Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh by 130 runs at the same venue in the one-off Test match with Hamilton Masakadza and Taylor each scoring centuries.
Both sides have new coaches with Zimbabwe now under the guidance of Mangongo while Shane Jurgensen becomes the third coach to take charge of Bangladesh in as many series that they have played here.
“It is going to be a good contest, I have to back my own team because we have a good enough side and we can go for a win,” said Taylor.
“Recently the players got contracts so we have a happy camp and we are determined to do it as a team.
“We have to pick ourselves up (from the West Indies series whitewash) because I feel that this is our chance to redeem ourselves and that is why we had extensive preparations since returning from West Indies.
“They (Sri Lanka) have a good, balanced side with a number of experienced players, the likes of Mohammad Ashraful, Shahriar Nafees and Shakib in the middle and they are going to make it an interesting challenge to us.”
It certainly is not going to be an easy task for Zimbabwe.
Injuries have ruled ouyt Tinotenda Mawoyo (groin), Regis Chakabva (figure) and seamer Christopher Mpofu (lower back).
“In the absence of Mawoyo we could juggle out with any of the batsmen who include Masakadza, Brendan Taylor is a former opener we also have Sean Williams and Timmy Marume so our options are really open,” said Mangongo.
“I have been coaching for around 20 years now, I have been in the set-up and really I am not getting any butterflies in my stomach because cricket is my life, it’s my passion and I feel that having the few young players in the side is not by chance and I believe they are good players.”
Bangladesh said they were ready for the basement battle.
“We are always looking forward to playing Zimbabwe and in all the matches we have played they have had some good teams. Building our side has been a process and we have to take it series by series and work on getting the basics right all the time.
“This is a great chance for us to improve on our statistics because Sri Lanka was not good for us but hopefully this tour is going to be better for us. Back home we are used to almost the same conditions as here so we are also looking forward to the challenge,” said Rahim.
“I am happy with the changes that have taken place in our side over the past year, we have gained a lot of experience, the players have become more responsible and we have managed to play constant cricket.
“There is maturity in our side and we now know how to handle pressure.”
Bangladesh coach, Jurgensen, backed his team to perform.
“We have trained well especially with our bowlers who I feel have been showing a lot of discipline and I hope that the same kind of discipline they have been exhibiting in the sessions is what they are going to put into practice here and put pressure on the Zimbabwe batsmen.
“We had a number of injuries in our side, the players have just been involved in a long domestic season and with the tour of Sri Lanka we felt that not having a warm-up game was good for us,” said the Australian coach.
Online Reporter