Toss Bangladesh opt to bowl vs Zimbabwe
Bangladesh captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz won the toss and opted to bowl in the first ODI against Zimbabwe in Harare. Mehidy said moisture in the pitch and overcast conditions overhead prompted him to bowl first.
The match will be played on pitch No. 4 after a spicy pitch No. 2 hosted the one-off Test between the sides. Richard Ngarava, in his first game as Zimbabwe's ODI captain, said he would have bowled first too.
After being rested for the Test earlier on the tour, Mehidy, Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana were back in Bangladesh's side for the ODI series. Their first-choice wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das missed out as he continues his recovery from a calf injury. In Litton's place, Bangladesh included Nurul Hasan.
Zimbabwe, meanwhile, had Sikandar Raza back after he was allowed to miss the one-off Test due to his commitments in the T20 Blast in England. Top-order batter Innocent Kaia was playing his first ODI since December 2023.
Bangladesh enter the ODI series against Zimbabwe in top form in the format. They beat West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia in successive series in the lead-up to their tour of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe and Bangladesh had last faced each other in an ODI in August 2022, also in Harare.
Zimbabwe: 1 Ben Curran, 2 Brian Bennett, 3 Innocent Kaia, 4 Craig Ervine, 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Wessly Madhevere, 7 Clive Madande (wk), 8 Brad Evans, 9 Newman Nyamhuri, 10 Richard Ngarava (capt), 11 Blessing Muzarabani
Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Mehidy Hasan Miraz (capt), 6 Mosaddek Hossain, 7 Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Nahid Rana
