Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh 1st ODI Predictions & Tips - Back Tamim Iqbal in Harare showdown

Tamim Iqbal has impressed with the bat of late and scored 66 runs in his last innings. The best bet for this encounter is for Iqbal to score over 24.5 runs in Harare on Friday.

Bangladesh have won their last five ODI matches against Zimbabwe.

They last met in 2020 where Bangladesh won by 123 runs at home on the D/L method.

Zimbabwe are in atrocious ODI form. Since June 2019 they have played 11 ODI matches, lost 10 and tied one. The tie came in their last match against Pakistan in November 2020.

The Zimbabweans batted first in that match against Pakistan with Sean Williams scoring a magnificent 118 runs. Sikandar Raza hit 45 off 36 balls towards the end to take Zimbabwe to a 278-run total.

Blessing Muzarabani took a brilliant 5-49 in his 10 overs but it wasn’t enough to secure the victory. Pakistan leveled the match off the final ball of the innings.

Zimbabwe will hope that Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams can continue their good ODI form. They have no injury concerns.

Bangladesh have won five of their nine ODI matches in 2021 so will be reasonably pleased with their form. Their only defeats came in New Zealand (3) and in their last match against Sri Lanka after already securing the series win.

In preparation for the ODI series against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh played a warm-up fixture against a Zimbabwe A side. Batting first, Tamim Iqbal scored 66 runs as Bangladesh reached a commanding total of 296 in 50 overs. 

That target always looked out of reach for Zimbabwe A as they stuttered their way to 189-7 by the 40th over. Rain then put a halt on proceedings and the players never returned.

Bangladesh have a full strength squad in Zimbabwe. There are no injury concerns.