ZIMBABWE Cricket begin their tour of Bangladesh today, undaunted by the challenges of the subcontinent.
Head coach Justin Sammons is relishing the challenge away from home.
"Our expectations for the tour are the same as we have for every series that we play or every series that we have played and that is for us to go and win the series," Sammons told StandardSport.
"Obviously we understand the challenges that we will face in Bangladesh and that the opposition generally face there and that's obviously the change in conditions from what we're used to.
“But that is a great challenge and once again a great learning for this group."
Sammons acknowledged that most of his players were new to Test cricket in the subcontinent.
"It will be, I think, a first time for a huge or large majority of the group in terms of playing Test cricket in the subcontinent and in particular Bangladesh.
“So yeah, massive learnings that we're looking forward to taking," he added.
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"We just understand that it's not going to be easy, that we're going to have to obviously be willing to put in the hard yards, but we've got our plans that we're obviously hoping to execute."
The coach believes his team is well-prepared, having played extensive cricket recently.
"The guys obviously come off a lot of cricket. Seamers had put in a lot of time on their feet and under their belts following the series against Durham, the Domestic T20 Cup and the Regional games," he said.
"It's important that we go in there with an open mind. We don't know exactly what we will expect to encounter or what sort of surfaces they will prepare.
“But we do have an idea obviously according to history but they do have an excellent seam attack as well."
Sammons emphasised the importance of adaptability.
"The guys obviously come off a lot of cricket,” he said. “Seamers had put in a lot of time on their feet and under their belts following the series against Durham, the Domestic T20 Cup and the Regional games.
"It's important that we go in there with an open mind. We don't know exactly what we will expect to encounter or what sort of surfaces they will prepare. But we do have an idea obviously according to history but they do have an excellent seam attack as well."
The team has tailored plans for batting, focusing on spin and seam.
"We will need to cover all basics and adjust to the conditions, which will likely force seamers to bowl straighter and wicket-to-wicket," he said.
"Our batsmen will need to be patient and adaptable to succeed."
Sammons' strategy is centred around executing their plans to perfection.
"It's important for us to cover all basics from a batting point of view in terms of spin as well as plans they will obviously try to employ in terms of seam," he said.
"So definitely more focused on the spin on conditions that sort of force seamers to bowl more wicket to wicket as the ball gets older and obviously set straighter fields."
Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Ben Curran, 2 Nick Welch, 3 Craig Ervine (capt), 4 Brian Bennett, 5 Sean Williams, 6 Wessly Madhevere, 7 Johnathan Campbell, 7 Tafadzwa Tsiga (wk), 8 Wellington Masakadza, 9 Richard Ngarava, 10 Blessing Muzarabani, 11 Trevor Gwandu/Victor Nyauchi
