For many years, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have possessed a great rivalry in cricket. The African side had a big edge over Bangladesh across formats during the early phase of the rivalry. However, in the last 12 years, the scenario has taken a complete U-turn with the rise of Bangladesh on the cricketing world map, along with the downfall of the African side due to various reasons.

The glamour of a Bangladesh–Zimbabwe series started to lose its colour since the Tigers began dominating the African side across formats. In the last eight Tests between these two sides, the Tigers have won seven of them, with their last defeat coming nearly seven years ago.

Interestingly, Zimbabwe's only Test victory over Bangladesh in more than a decade came at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, which will host the opening Test of a two-match series between the two sides, starting Sunday.

Although Zimbabwe have a relatively inexperienced side compared to Bangladesh, they have some exciting names under their belt such as Brian Bennett, Ben Curran, Johnathan Campbell, Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani, with whom their skipper Craig Ervine hopes to turn things around.

"There was always rivalry between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. It is slightly tougher for Zimbabwe playing in Bangladesh but we always feel that we have a chance (against Bangladesh). This group of players can pose a decent threat," Ervine, the most experienced Test campaigner in the side, told reporters in Sylhet today.

"I think it is a great opportunity for the young players to stamp their authority in Test cricket," said the 39-year-old, adding that the visitors want to play without fear against Bangladesh and aim to utilise the seam-friendly surface in Sylhet.

"We want to bring a no-fear attitude. The guys are not familiar with Bangladesh conditions but long preparations give you the confidence to go out and express yourself. We want to enjoy playing Test cricket in different conditions.

"We can probably expect the wicket to be seamer-friendly. There's grass on the wicket. We trained for a couple of days. We are confident of our preparations, so we are looking forward to it."

Meanwhile, Ervine believes that with the growing number of Test matches they will play this year, they can actually end their 10-match winless streak in this format very soon.

Zimbabwe, who have not had the chance to play against top-ranked Test sides often in the last decade, will be facing England, South Africa and New Zealand in red-ball cricket in the coming months.

"I understand we haven't had a great run in Test cricket. I think this is the first year in which we have a lot of Test cricket lined up for us... The type of opponents in the next few months is really exciting too," said Ervine.