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Forster Mutizwa was a surprise exclusion in the side that will take on Bangladesh in the hosts’ first Test match since September 2005.
Mutizwa, whose unbeaten 87 led Zimbabwe XI to victory over the Bangladeshis, was ignored while 21-year old left-arm seamer Brian Vitori was the only uncapped player selected.

Taibu will be making his first appearance in national colours since the ICC World Cup last year as he also missed the Coca Cola tri-series against South African and Australian A recently.
Taibu was included in the side that was announced yesterday at the Interfin High Performance Centre in Highlands, among 13 others, as the final XI is yet to be named.
Bangladesh arrived in the country on Thursday evening on a month-long tour which will see them take on the hosts in one Test match and five One-day International games in Harare and Bulawayo.

The Test match is set for Harare Sports Club starting on Thursday while three of the ODIs will be played at the same venue before action moves to Bulawayo for the remainder of the games.
Zimbabwe voluntarily pulled out the longer version of the game in 2006 due to the inability to field a competitive team as most of the top players had pulled out.

However, it seems time is ripe for the national side to once again spend some time in the sun in the longer version of the game that is also refered to as the ‘real cricket’.
The squad comprises of seven batsmen, five bowlers and two all-rounders and opening batsman Tino Mawoyo made it into the team after showing good signs of form in recent games against Australia A.

Taibu’s return will definitely be a boost to the batting department but it is still uncertain whether he will make it into the final team after a dismal performance with the bat in the warm-up game.
Mawoyo, who usually likes taking his time to score seemed to have been the appropriate candidate to be selected, and is expected to partner Vusi Sibanda as no major changes are expected from the side that took on Australia A. In the bowling department, Kyle Jarvis made his way into the team after a disappointing return to competitive cricket.

The fast bowler was expensive in the second four-day game against Australia.
However, Jarvis showed signs of recovery in the warm-up against Bangladesh at the weekend picking up a number of wickets and regaining pace – something the selectors were probably looking for.

Upcoming left arm bowler Vitori was no expected to make the final squad and his heroics with the ball in both forms of the game quickly and surely caught the eyes of the selectors.
Zimbabwe will work with five seamers – Christopher Mpofu, Keegan Meth, Elton Chigumbura, Jarvis and Vitori – while the duo of Ray Price and Prosper Utseya come in as the spinners.
The duo of Chigumbura and Meth make up the two all-rounders in the team and they will be expected to chip in with runs if either of them get play time.

Zimbabwe decided to rest their senior players with Chigumbura, Hamilton Masakadza, Price and captain Brendan Taylor out for the warm-up match.
Squads
Zimbabwe
Brendan Taylor (captain), Regis Chakabva, Elton Chigumbura, Craig Ervine, Kyle Jarvis, Hamilton Masakadza, Tinotenda Mawoyo, Keegan Meth, Christopher Mpofu, Ray Price, Vusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Prosper Utseya, Brain Vitori.
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Hossain, Shahriar Nafees, Robiul Islam, Shuvagoto Hom, Nasir Hossain.