Bangladesh received a double blow ahead of their series against Zimbabwe yesterday as regular opener Soumya Sarkar was ruled out for three weeks due to a side-strain and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza-led BCB XI was knocked down by seven wickets in the lone warm-up game against the visitors at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah.

Young left-hander Soumya might not have justified his talent on the Bangladesh A team's recent tours, but his brilliance in the last three series is still fresh in the minds of millions of fans, who will however miss him during the three-match ODI and two-match T20I series against Zimbabwe.

A strong BCB XI also failed to orchestrate an ideal prelude to the series, as it was the case against Pakistan during a warm-up match before that series courtesy of Sabbir Rahman's blistering hundred. That warm-up match actually set the tone of the Tigers' fairytale run against Pakistan, India and South Africa in a memorable 2015.

However, it was not all bad news as their inspirational captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza -- under whom the Tigers achieved glorious successes since the World Cup -- bowled seven overs without any complaints to give the impression that he was ready to lead the team in Saturday's first one-day match against Zimbabwe, when the Tigers will hope to maintain this year's winning streak at home.

Mushfiqur Rahim also tuned up well during his unbeaten 81, a knock which featured five fours and two sixes to send a positive message to the Bangladesh top-order. The diminutive right-hander showed the evidence that he was ready to dismantle the Zimbabwean bowling attack with his near-perfect slog sweeps.

It's true that a warm-up match result can hardly reflect the true picture, especially when the home side hid their true bowling attack. But it was expected that the home batting, that boasts batsmen like Imrul Kayes, Anamul Haque, Liton Das, Mushfiqur and Sabbir Rahman, should have piled on the runs on a placid track to set the tone for the series.

After Imrul and Anamul had a 105-run opening stand, a 300-plus target seemed achievable, but the BCB XI batting lacked the killer-instinct in their approach. The Zimbabweans however, took the chance to regain their confidence after morale-shattering defeats against Afghanistan at home.

Sikandar Raza smacked a massive six over long-off against pacer Delwar Hossain to finish the chase of the 278-run target in style, but it was Craig Ervine and Sean Williams' clinical batting efforts which built their platform before Elton Chigumbura, the captain, put the hosts' bowling to the sword for an easy win.

Ervine later well defined what actually they achieved from this warm-up game.

"I think it is always good to start off a tour on a winning note, especially to win with quite a few wickets in hand against a large total. It is good practice for us. It is not going to be easy to play the ODIs against Bangladesh. It is more about taking the confidence from a practice game. We didn't have a good series at home against Afghanistan but we have put that behind us now," said Ervine.

SCORES IN BRIEF

BCB XI: 277 for 8 in 50 overs (Mushfiqur 81 not out, Kayes 56, Anamul 52, Nafees 38; Jongwe 3-20, Cremer 3-21)

ZIMBABWE: 281 for 3 in 46.4 overs (Ervine 95, Williams 54 retd; Chigumbura 64 not out; Sunzamul 2-70, Shafiul 1-47)

Result: Zimbabwe won by 7 wickets