Sports Reporter :Highly improved Bangladesh National Cricket team will take on Zimbabwe National Cricket team in the 1st Twenty20 international match of the four-match Walton Twenty20 Cup at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium (SANS) in Khulna today. The match begins at 3.00 pm. Private satellite television channel G TV will telecast the match live from the venue.Before today’s encounter, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe faced each other in five Twenty20 international matches. Of them, Bangladesh registered three victories, while Zimbabwe won two.The cricketers of both teams took part at the practice sessions in the SANS on Thursday.Meanwhile, a BCB source informed this reporter that all the tickets of the first T20 match were sold out yesterday within three hours.Captain of Bangladesh team Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said to the reporters on Thursday, “I respect Zimbabwe Cricket team, but victory is ours.” Mashrafe said, ” The combination of our team is now different. But our target is win. This is an international match. So, we have no second option than win.”When asked to comment about Zimbabwe team, Mashrafe said, “Though Zimbabwe lost to Afghanistan recently, we do not underestimate them.”He said, ” We have to remember that we tasted defeat to Zimbabwe in our last encounter. Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty20 Cricket are imminent. So, we have some opportunities to experiment with our team combination. We want to utilize that opportunity.”Mashrafe played in the recently concluded BPL with injury. When asked him about his fitness, he declared himself totally fit, capable of playing all the matches of the series.Captain of Zimbabwe Cricket team Elton Chigumbura said, ” Though we lost to Afghanistan in the ODI and Twenty20 series, we are very optimistic against Bangladesh in this time. We won against Bangladesh in a Twenty20 match in November last year. If our batsmen can deliver usual performance, we will get something positive result in this series.”Chigumbura said, ” Twenty20 is an anybody’s game. So, anything can happen.”He said, ” The condition of this country is known to us. Before the Twenty20 World Cup Cricket, it is an opportunity for us to do some experiment. ” He hopes that they can make a good combination and also achieve a good result.Teams:Bangladesh (probable): Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Nurul Hasan (Wicketkeeper), Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (Captain), Arafat Sunny, Mustafizur Rahman and Al-Amin Hossain.Zimbabwe (probable): Chamu Chibhabha, Hamilton Masakadza, Richmond Mutumbami (Wicketkeeper), Sean Williams, Malcolm Waller, Sikandar Raza, Elton Chigumbura (Captain), Luke Jongwe, Graeme Cremer, Tendai Chisoro and Neville Madziva.
