Toss Zimbabwe chose to bowl vs Bangladesh
Richard Ngarava won the toss in his first Test as captain and put Bangladesh in on a bright winter morning in Harare. The decision was based on the pitch and potentially the early start. Tests generally start at 10am in Zimbabwe, this one's starting at 9.30am. Bangladesh, heading into this game in a rich vein of form, handed wicketkeeper Amite Hasan a Test debut.
"We know these conditions better - this is our home ground - and there's a bit of grass on the wicket," Ngarava said. Najmul Hossain Shanto said there was moisture in the wicket and the new ball could extract extra bounce. He expressed his faith in his openers to play well in tough conditions.
Both teams went in with pace-heavy attacks; 97 of the 100 wickets to fall in the last five Tests in Harare have been taken by seamers. Bangladesh had four specialist bowlers, with Taijul Islam being the only spinner. Amite got the nod above Mahidul Islam Ankon as the wicketkeeper. He is making his Test debut. Zimbabwe went with three specialist seamers, a seam-bowling allrounder in Brad Evans and a spin-bowling allrounder in Wessly Madhevere.
Madhevere took the spot of Sikandar Raza, who is playing the T20 Blast in England. It meant there was no place for 39-year-old Graeme Cremer, who returned to the Test squad.
This is Zimbabwe's first bilateral series this year. The last Test they played was against Afghanistan in October 2025. Bangladesh are coming off a 2-0 series win against Pakistan at home in May. This match is being played without the Decision Review System in place for team reviews either.
Zimbabwe: 1 Ben Curran, 2 Innocent Kaia, 3 Brendan Taylor (wk), 4 Brian Bennett, 5 Craig Ervine, 6 Tafadzwa Tsiga, 7 Wessly Madhevere, 8 Brad Evans, 9 Newman Nyamhuri, 10 Richard Ngarava (capt), 11 Blessing Muzarabani
Bangladesh: 1 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 2 Mahmudul Hasan Joy, 3 Shadman Islam, 4 Mominul Haque, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim, 6 Towhid Hridoy, 7 Amite Hasan (wk), 8 Taijul Islam, 9 Hasan Mahmud, 10 Khaled Ahmed, 11 Ebadot Hossain