While Zimbabwe’s last tour to Pakistan in May 2015 was in many ways over-ridden by the emotional tide of Zimbabwe being the first Test-playing nation to tour Pakistan since 2009, this time the reciprocal series has all the makings of a fierce contest.
Doubtless, the wide lens is focused on March next year when the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 tournament takes place in India.
As such both Zimbabwe and Pakistan will welcome the opportunity to try combinations during the QMobile Cup 2015 series presented by Brighto Paints, and will be putting their plans in place as the tour progresses.
In Lahore, Pakistan won both the matches of the Twenty20 International (T20I) series but there was not much to separate the two sides as both matches were won in the final over and stakes were weighed too heavily in favour of the discipline of batting on those flat tracks.
Scores of 170-plus were chased down on both occasions as both top-orders profited from the lifeless pitches, but going on recent trends, pitches at Harare Sports Club will offer something with the ball earlier on and then get easier to bat on as the match progresses.
Zimbabwe’s T20I form has not been great this year, as they have claimed only one win in five games played. This statistic is however not a true reflection of how well the team has actually played as all five matches have been competitive deep into the contest, only for Zimbabwe to crumble under the unfamiliar pressure of being ahead in the game.
The home side’s T20I team looks settled despite the exclusion of Vusimuzi Sibanda, Charles Coventry and Brian Vitori who all played in both the matches in Pakistan.
Sibanda has struggled for form while opening the innings and Chamunorwa Chibhabha has stepped up during the last two series against India and New Zealand, while also giving an option with the ball.
Vitori has not quite re-discovered the magic that saw him becoming a household name overnight when he took two five-wicket hauls in his first two One-Day Internationals (ODI) against Bangladesh in 2011, and has subsequently lost his place to Taurai Muzarabani who has demonstrated a lot of accuracy in the three T20 International matches he has played so far.
Richmond Mutumbami comes in as the specialist wicket-keeper batsman on account of his recent form in the Africa T20 cup, and there is a temptation to give him a new role as opener to give an aggressive option in the batting powerplay.
Contrastingly Pakistan will be buoyed by the fact that the bulk of their players have been taking part in their domestic T20 competition and they come into the T20 series against Zimbabwe more in touch with their respective games.
Mukhtar Ahmed and Ahmed Shehzad proved potent as an opening pair in Lahore, but their senior men Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi are equally threatening on their day.
The Pakistan bowling attack has plenty of arsenal in their reserves, with the duo of towering quick Mohammad Irfan (who stands 216cm tall) and Wahab Riaz most likely going to enjoy Harare pitches that are only just shedding their winter coats.
The 50-over series will again be a platform to build up to the Champions trophy in two years’ time and the ICC Cricket World Cup in four years’ time. Eleventh ranked Zimbabwe will be looking to gain ODI rankings momentum and narrow the gap between them and Pakistan, who lie eighth in the rankings.
For Zimbabwe, solid starts, steady middle periods and flourishes towards the end are what they will be after to mastermind a series win.
The ODI series in Pakistan provided memories of Sikandar Raza Butt becoming the first player of Pakistan descent to score a century against Pakistan in Pakistan, notwithstanding Chibhabha narrowly missing out on his maiden ODI ton.
Warm days are expected under cloudless skies in Harare for the entire duration of the series, and Zimbabwe will depend upon an all-round effort that will take advantage of every team's most treasured ally – home advantage.
