The Southern African side will however spend three hours in the capital before flying to Chittagong, where they will play their tour opener, the first Test and two one-day internationals.

The visitors under new captain Tatenda Taibu will launch their second visit to Bangladesh with a three-day match against the BCB XI at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium from January 1-3.

Meanwhile, the selectors are planning to field a strong side for the three-day game.

Chief selector Faruque Ahmed hinted that Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Tushar Imran, Nafees Ahmed, Shamsur Rahman, Tareq Aziz Khan, Shafaq Al Jabir and Mohammad Sharif are likely to be included in the team.

"We have yet to decide the 13-member team. But I can tell you that there will be no spinner in the squad as we have decided to offer them a green-top pitch in the match. We don't want to expose our spinners to the visitors ahead of the series proper," he said.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board yesterday released the list of officials for the series.

The umpires: Tyrone Wijewar-dena, Gamini Silva (Sri Lanka), Nadeem Ghouri and Asad Rauf (Pakistan).

Match referee: Roshan Maha-nama (Sri Lanka).