Zimbabwe XI set to play Pakistan at the Bulawayo Athletic Club

Pakistan cricket team will get involved into some serious cricket when they will take on Zimbabwe XI in a two-day warm-up match at the Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) on Sunday. Pakistani team reached Zimbabwe on Friday to play one Test match, three One-Day International (ODI) and two Twenty20 matches from September 1 to 18.

Pakistan team's immediate focus will be on the two-day practice match where they are expected to field their strongest side so their players quickly acclimatise to the local conditions before the Test match. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, are likely to keep their cards very close to their chest by resting most of their senior players like they did against Bangladesh.

The element of surprise worked very well in the previous series against Bangladesh, where seamers Brian Vitori and Kyle Jarvis used their lack of exposure at the highest level to their advantage. The selectors are likely to rest their frontline bowlers, with the inform Vitori, who has recovered from a sheen injury, Chris Mpofu and Kyle Jarvis all set to be rested for the practice match.

The same trend is also likely to be used in the batting department where skipper Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza, Elton Chigumbura, Vusi Sibanda all look set to be rested. In-form Vusi Sibanda and Tino Mawoyo look most likely to be entrusted with opening the batting with the latter hoping for a big score which might just set the tone for the series.