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Vusi Sibanda

THIS series will be less about what happens between bat and ball and more about what happens beyond the boundary, or more precisely, what does not happen.

Security threats have meant that no Test-playing team has visited Pakistan since the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team bus and no Test-playing team would have if not for Zimbabwe, although they won’t be playing any Tests.

Zimbabwe have done much more than hold out an olive branch to Pakistan; they’re planting a forest. Their 10-day, two T20 and three ODI tour could cultivate the comeback of international cricket to a country most teams are too scared to travel to.

Pakistan will be before their home fans once again and that alone will be motivation enough to turn things around from their recent tour of Bangladesh, where they were blanked in the limited-overs matches. They will be smarting after that, desperate to show they have not sunk to a new low, and there will be no better place to do that than in front of their own fans.

Passionate supporters have already caught the Zimbabwean players’ eyes with many of them sharing on social media their excitement to be received so warmly but they will know those eyes do not want to see Pakistan defeated. And those eyes won’t be expecting anything like that.

Zimbabwe are historically poor travellers and lost every match on their most recent away trip to Bangladesh. They have not played any cricket since the World Cup but are hopeful of a new beginning under Dav Whatmore. They have a packed winter schedule and will hope to get off to a good start in Pakistan.

All the joy over cricket coming back to Pakistan is not quite the same as the feeling around the team. As it gets over ODI retirements of senior players, the side is trying to forge a new identity and needs to find both stability and success to get on its feet. Against the emotive backdrop of the return home, a series against Zimbabwe may be the perfect place for the new-look Pakistan to start to take shape.

Zimbabwe’s returnees make up more than a third of their squad as the selectors have decided to give players who missed out on the World Cup another chance to stake a claim for a long-term spot. Among them are Vusi Sibanda, whose talent as an opening batsman has not yielded the results expected, Graeme Cremer, the leg spinner whose wicket-taking ability could make him a key component of the attack and Chris Mpofu, the lanky seamer who will look to lead the pack. All three add experience to Elton Chigumbura’s growing senior core.

Without Saeed Ajmal or Umar Gul, the focus will be on Pakistan’s attack with Wahab Riaz at the helm. Bilawal Bhatti and Mohammad Sami are expected to assist with the pace duties while Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik will do the slow bowling. Mukhtar Ahmed should get the chance to establish himself as Ahmed Shehzad’s opening partner while Hafeez and Umar Akmal give Pakistan a strong top five.

Zimbabwe could welcome back all six of their comeback players with Charles Coventry likely to make an appearance in the middle-order, Richmond Mutumbami to take the gloves, Cremer to share slow-bowling duties with Sean Williams, and Mpofu and Brian Vitori competing with Tawanda Mupariwa and Tinashe Panyangara for the seamers’ spots.

Pakistan have gone 2,271 days since they last played a match at home, on March 2, 2009.

Zimbabwe last played a T20 match more than a year ago at the World T20 and they have only played five T20s in the last two years. Two of those were against Pakistan in Harare and Zimbabwe lost both.

TEAMS
Pakistan (probable) 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Mukhtar Ahmed, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Umar Akmal, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Anwar Ali, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Mohammad Sami, 11 Bilawal Bhatti

Zimbabwe (probable) 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Sikandar Raza, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Charles Coventry, 5 Craig Ervine, 6 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 7 Sean Williams, 8 Richmond Mutumbami (wk) 9 Graeme Cremer 10 and 11 Chris Mpofu/Tawanda Mupariwa/Tinashe Panyangara/Brian Vitori. — Cricinfo.