Eight out of the ten ICC full member countries will appear in four venues across the world in four matches in three different versions of the game making it a super Friday of world cricket.
Australia plays India at Woolongaba in the second ODI of the current series. Australia winning at Perth the other day is leading 1-0. Pakistan plays New Zealand in the first T20 match of a new series at Christchurch.
Bangladesh will lock horn with Zimbabwe in Khulna in the first T20 match of the four-match series. South Africa will bat on the second day at 267/7 against England at Johannesburg on their mission for winning and leveling the series.
All matches have different significance to all 8 contestants. The cricket enthusiasts will definitely have plenty to cheer about.
Bangladesh Vs Zimbabwe:
The two familiar oppositions have played too often in different versions of the game. Bangladesh has memories of not too distant past of white washing the visitors at home. But this series is T20. The last series of T20 was shared 1-1 by them. With world T20 round the corner, this series will be considered as ideal series for trying out the best combination. 
Bangladesh appears supremely confident with abundance of batting and bowling talents. In recent times, they proved themselves a very competitive ODI team. But T20 is still not their forte.
The squad has three new players including Shubhagato Hom. They forced their inclusion in the team playing exceptionally well in the recently concluded BPL T20 tournament.
Nurul Hasan is being considered the future wicket keeper cum late middle order batsman for Bangladesh. Abu Haider Rony according to many will be part of Bangladesh new ball attack with Mustafizur Rahman, Al Amin and Taskin Ahmed under able leadership of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. The batting order is more or less settled.
Bangladesh needs to work out ideal combination for ensuing Asia Cup and World T20 tournament. They opted resting out Nasir Hossain to try Shubhagato Hom. They also want to check out Abu Haider Rony.
The first match will be ideal Occasion. The real challenge will be selecting one from among Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar. Soumya needs exposure as Imrul has vast experience already.
The probable Teams:
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah Riyad, Shakib Al Hasan, Shabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nurul Hasan, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Abu Haider Rony, Al Amin Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman.
Zimbabwe: CJ Chibhabha, E Chigumbura*, , AG Cremer, LM Jongwe, , H Masakadza, , R Mutumbami†, T Muzarabani, V Sibanda, Sikandar Raza, , MN Waller and SC Williams 
Pakistan Vs New Zealand:
Pakistan with a new look team will play against red-hot Kiwis fresh from major smashing victories they had over pathetic Sri Lankans. Return of Mohammad Amir and Umar Gul will significantly strengthen their firepower.
Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir and Umer Gul are expected to exploit favorable swinging condition and seaming wicket. But Kiwi batsmen are also in blistering form. Pakistan will need to bat well against very strong Kiwi attack. They have bowlers who are horses for the courses.
Pakistan will be looking forward a happy return to the team of their talented pacer Mohammad Amir from exile after serving his punishment term for match fixing and also return after injury of Umar Gul.
On the other hand Kiwis will like to see their top Munro, Guptill and Williamson retain their prolific forms with the bat.
The probable teams would be
New Zealand: MJ Guptill, TWM Latham , C Munro, KS Williamson*, LRPL Taylor, CJ Anderson, L Ronchi, TA Boult, MJ Henry, AF Milne and MJ Santner.
Pakistan: Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohaib Maqsood, †, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Shahid Afridi*, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz
Australia Vs India:
The two top dogs will appear today after their keenly contested high scoring first ODI ended with Australia chasing a huge target of 310 brilliantly by 5 wickets.
The match witnessed excellent batting of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli of India and equally aggressive batting of Steve Smith and George Bailey of Australia.
Absence of DRS (India does not like) perhaps let George produce that wonderful innings as he was possibly lucky with umpire missing his feeble deflection on the very first ball he received. Brisbane wicket will be a bit slower. But with rain and thunder storm forecasted D/L method may come into play.
India must win to get back into the series while another Australian win will almost secure the series for them. Australia may choose one from Shaun Marsh or Usman Khawaja in place of David Warner on parental leave.
India has no reason to change unless they want to add another pacer Ishant Sharma replacing Ravi Ashwin. It will be another show where Indian version of cutter Mustafiz BB Sran will be seriously looked into
Probable Teams
Australia : SPD Smith*, GJ Bailey, SM Boland, JP Faulkner, AJ Finch, JR Hazelwood, UT Khawaja/ MR Marsh, GJ Maxwell, JS Paris, KW Richardson, and MS Wade†
India : MS Dhoni*†, , S Dhawan, Gurkeerat Singh, RA Jadeja, V Kohli, MK Pandey, AM Rahane, I Sharma, RG Sharma, BB Sran and UT Yadav
South Africa Vs England:
The third test of the series at Johannesburg on the first day witnessed keen tussle between bat and ball with honors being evenly shared .South Africa at 267/7 need at least another 75 runs to go for all out kill in attempt to squaring the series.
All the batsmen got start but could not get going. 9 batsmen scored between 46 and 16 with none managing a score above fifty tells a lot about nature of the contest Elgar with 46 and Amla 40 were main scorers.
Chris Morris on 26 and K Rabada on 20 were at the wicket when stumps were drawn. All English bowlers bowled well maintaining tight length and line. Finn ( 2/50 ) and Stokes ( 2/ 53 0 were the most successful bowlers.
The first session of the second day today will determine which way the test would be going. South Africa will be desperate to add another 60-70 runs for brightening their prospect of storming back in the series. England would look forward to wrap up the tail.
Anyway, cricket enthusiasts all over the world wait for few more hours for a wonderful day of enthralling cricket. Keep your eyes glued to TV coverage or if you are in towns of actions be there.
BDST: 1014 HRS, JAN 15, 2016
RS
