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This was pretty much to be expected, but Mashrafe won't be touring Zimbabwe: http://www.cricinfo.com/wivbdesh2009/co ... 16666.html
Mushfiqur will be the vice captain, Shakib will be captain.

Losing Mashrafe will weaken their pace bowling quite a bit:

Zimbabwe quicks

Ed Rainsford - 34 matches, 35 wickets at 33.74
Elton Chigumbura - 88 matches, 60 wickets at 36.08

Tawanda Mupariwa - 33 matches, 52 wickets at 25.94
Chris Mpofu - 33 matches, 36 wickets at 36.02

Bangladesh quicks

Syed Rasel - 41 matches, 51 wickets at 29.66
Rubel Hossain - 7 matches, 9 wickets at 22.77

Shahadat Hossain - 43 matches, 41 wickets at 41.24
Mashrafe Mortaza - 103 matches, 135 wickets at 29.81


Maybe Detective RDS can give better insight into Bangladesh's other seamers, but I reckon Zimbabwe should hold the advantage - if nothing else - with the new ball. Rubel is very inexperienced and maybe the likes of Vermeulen and Masakadza will be able to get on top of him psychologically by scoring quickly against him... if I'm thinking of the right bloke, he has quite a slingy action and was pretty quick. I imagine it should be easier to score boundaries by working the ball, using the pace.

Our quicks have all been around for 4 or 5 years on the international circuit. Their figures have suffered as a result of being thrust into international cricket too early, but against Bangladesh our seamers will need to put all of their experience to good use... and if they do, I am sure they will outsmart the BD batsmen. I only saw a fraction of the BD vs WI Test series, but it looks like some of their batsmen might be susceptible to the odd short ball. Hopefully all of this is being discussed in the Zimbabwe training camp.

I don't know enough about the BD spinners to make comparisons (again, maybe Detective RDS can shed some light on this), but I guess it is safe to say that Ray Price will have a few of the Bangladesh batsmen worried. I am concerned about Shakib, he looks dangerous with bat and ball and nothing would please me more than to see him have a very quiet series. If his impact is minimal, Zimbabwe will have a much easier time of it.

Lossing Mashrafe Mortaza from the pace bowling department will a big blow, it's an open secret. But I'm not thinking about it much. Bangladesh has taken both the test and ODI series vs WI without Mashrafe. Mainly, the spinners have done the trick for Bangladesh.

Talking about the pace bowling of Bangladesh, the attack will be led by Syed Rasel. Rasel hasn't got any real pace, relies more on line-length and swing. Most of the times he has been economical for Ban. Represented Ban in the WC 2007.

Rubel Hossain is an exciting bowler with great pace but inexperienced. But he is expensive at times, that's a neg point. But his quick bowling, bounce and yorkers have impressed the fans, But he shouldn't be given to bowl in the very death, he can be proved very costly.

I think, Shahadat Hossain won't be a part of Ban squad for Zimabwe tour. He is out of form and is very expensive for the ODIs.

Mahbubul Alam (http://www.cricinfo.com/bangladesh/cont ... 56032.html) will tour Zimbabwe. He has got swing and can maintain good line and lenght but again not with enough experience under the belt in international level. But he has been a consistent bowler in the domestic circuit with good domestic stats.

Nazmul Hossain (http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/56056.html) will tour Zimbabwe also, I think. He has been in and out in the Bangladesh side for the last couple or more years. But has got experience in the ODI's playing 24 ODIs.

So, I think....

Bangladesh quicks

Syed Rasel - 41 matches, 51 wickets at 29.66
Rubel Hossain - 7 matches, 9 wickets at 22.77

Nazmul Hossain - 24 matches, 25 wickets at 37.12
Mahbubul Alam - 2 matches, 1 wicket at 91.00

Bangladesh spinners are very good. Shakib al hasan is leading the spin attack. Abdur Razzak is also very good who was the man of the match in 1st ODI vs WI taking 4 wickets. Razzak has represented Bangalore Royal Challengers (RCB) in the IPL in the first season. There are also Mahmudullah, the off spinner who took 8 wickets in his test debute vs WI. Naeem Islam is also an off spinner, doing a good job for Ban. They all have troubled WI batsmen in the recent series.

Bangladesh is looking very good after Shakib al hasan took the captaincy and I am expecting a good series Ban vs Zim. We will be able to watch a great cricket, I guess...

Excellent analysis, Detective!

Bangladesh also got two part time spinners - Ashraful (leggie) and Mehrab (SLA). Ashraful is generally expensive but at times he turned out to be effective in breaking partnership.

Welcome to the forum Eshen

In the last ODI, both Mahbub and Nazmul swung the ball well during early overs. But both became ineffective after initial period.