by Humaira
All you need to know about India and Bangladesh’s tour of Zimbabwe and how to watch it live on ICC.tv with thanks to TSM.
Zimbabwe are set to welcome Asian giants India and Bangladesh in July-August 2022 for white-ball assignments. Bangladesh’s tour begins with a three-match T20I series starting Saturday, 30 July and will be followed by three ODIs which will conclude on 10 August.
The T20I series between the two sides would be vital for their preparations for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup later this year. Zimbabwe recently punched their ticket to Australia by winning the T20 World Cup Qualifier B tournament and will be keen to test themselves in the shortest format against the best of the teams.
While Zimbabwe will have to go through Round 1 to play in the Super 12, Bangladesh have already booked their berth for the second stage of the tournament. The Tigers too will be looking to fine-tune their squad ahead of the big tournament in October-November 2022.
A little over a week after the conclusion of the Bangladesh series, Zimbabwe will host India for a three-match ODI series, which will be played under the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League umbrella.
Though the league has little implication for India as they have already qualified for the World Cup 2023 by virtue of being hosts, Zimbabwe will need to make a push in the standings.
The top seven teams in the table at the end of the Super League automatically qualify for the 2023 World Cup, along with hosts India. The remaining teams will have to go through qualifiers in order to make it for the marquee event next year.
India currently occupy the seventh spot with 79 points from 12 games. On the other hand, Zimbabwe are a spot off the bottom at 12th with 35 points from 15 games. Though it would be a herculean effort, a 3-0 win over India could see them breathing down the necks of Australia, who are 8th in the standings and are currently occupying the last qualifying spot.
While Bangladesh have toured as recently as last year, this will be India’s first tour of Zimbabwe since 2016. The Men in Blue have happy memories of their last tour where they whitewashed the hosts 3-0 in the ODI series.
