Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, has said that Bangladesh’s two-Test series against Zimbabwe, scheduled originally for January 2016, will be shelved to keep the team’s focus on T20Is. Hassan did not mention when the series will be now be held, but said the period after the World T20 was in discussion.
“It is necessary for us to prepare for the Asia Cup T20 and the World T20 which are two important tournaments,” he said. “Many of our T20 players aren’t in the T20 squad so if we play Test cricket at that time, they won’t be able to prepare.” The BCB, however, is yet to announce any international or domestic T20 tournament between the end of the BPL and the start of the Asia Cup, which they will host.
The two-Test series was part of Zimbabwe’s full tour to Bangladesh, but after Australia postponed their Test series in October, the BCB forwarded the limited-overs matches from the Zimbabwe series to November. Bangladesh won the ODI series 3-0, and the two teams shared the two-match T20I series 1-1.
Back in August, the BCB had already cut one Test from this series to prepare for the World T20. In October, the two Tests scheduled for January were forwarded to November, but a week later, the BCB changed the format of the series to include just ODIs and T20Is.