Bangladesh’s upcoming tour of Zimbabwe will conclude on the same day as the FIFA World Cup final, creating an unusual overlap between two major sporting events. On 19 July, while the football world focuses on the World Cup final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the Bangladesh cricket team will be playing a Twenty20 International against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has officially announced the full itinerary for Bangladesh’s multi-format tour, which will include one Test match, three One Day Internationals and three T20 Internationals. The series will take place between late June and mid-July.
The tour will begin with the only Test match on 28 June in Harare. The ODI series will then be staged at the same venue between 6 and 11 July. After the completion of the 50-over matches, both teams will travel to Bulawayo for the T20I series, scheduled from 15 to 19 July.
The final T20I on 19 July will therefore coincide directly with the FIFA World Cup final in the United States. Although the two events involve different sports and audiences, the scheduling overlap has drawn attention because both occasions are expected to attract significant international interest.
Bangladesh Tour of Zimbabwe Schedule
| Format | Matches | Venue | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 1 | Harare | From 28 June |
| ODI | 3 | Harare | 6–11 July |
| T20I | 3 | Bulawayo | 15–19 July |
Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have faced each other in 20 Test matches so far. Their most recent Test series took place in Bangladesh last year, where the two-match contest ended in a 1-1 draw.
Bangladesh last toured Zimbabwe during July and August 2022. That visit did not include any Test cricket. Zimbabwe won both the ODI and T20I series by identical 2-1 margins in Harare, marking one of their more successful home campaigns against Bangladesh in recent years.
The upcoming series will also mark Zimbabwe’s first home international assignment of the year. The team has not played an international match since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup held earlier this year in India and Sri Lanka during February and March.
Zimbabwe produced notable results during that tournament. The side defeated both Australia and Sri Lanka and advanced to the Super Eight stage for the first time in its history. Those performances represented one of the team’s strongest campaigns in a global T20 event.
Zimbabwe Cricket Managing Director Givemore Makoni said in a statement that the board was pleased to confirm Bangladesh’s tour and expected competitive cricket across all three formats. He added that the series was highly significant for Zimbabwe cricket because it would mark the return of international cricket to home venues following the team’s strong display at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup earlier in the year.
The series is expected to provide both teams with an opportunity to continue international competition across formats during a period when the global sporting calendar will also be dominated by the FIFA World Cup final.