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Nahid Rana had been given only one instruction from the team, and that was to bowl at a pace of above 140kph, according to the national team captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. 

The pace sensation is set to return to the venue where he first burst onto the scene when he made his Test debut at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in March last year. 

Nahid, however, will only be available to play the first Test, as he has been given the NOC by the Bangladesh Cricket Board to play in the Pakistan Super League after the match. 

But as Shanto said, the speedster will play the role as always and that of bowling fast. 

‘Since day one, I knew him from his early days; he was given only one message: to bowl above 140kph,’ Shanto told the reporters ahead of the first Test. ‘The message was clear. I hope that he will do that if he gets the opportunity.’

Shanto also joked when he was asked regarding Sean Williams’ comment on Nahid. 

Williams, the veteran all-rounder, earlier said, ‘There are a lot of people who can bowl fast nowadays. Not just one person. We are prepared for that.’

‘We have bowling machines that bowl faster than human beings. It is a great thing,’ he added. 

When Shanto’s attention was drawn to that, he said, ‘You will be able to see when Nahid will bowl tomorrow by observing the opposition’s body language, like how extraordinary he is!’ 

However, the Bangladesh captain reiterated the fact that they would not take Zimbabwe lightly. 

‘The fans and sometimes you guys may think like that [Zimbabwe is a small team]. But as professional cricketers, we think ball by ball, to win every battle, to play at our best,’ said Shanto. 

‘The thing I said about the culture was that we would have to maintain the body language against every opposition, be it Zimbabwe or South Africa. There should be no difference. There’s scope for improvement. But we believe we will be able to do that,’ he further added.