Zimbabwe will tour Sri Lanka for a series of three ODIs and three T20Is in January. It will be the first bilateral T20I series featuring the two teams in Sri Lanka, and also the first ODI series between them in the island since January 2022.

Sri Lanka are currently No. 7 in the ICC ODI team rankings, while Zimbabwe, who have failed to qualify for the last two World Cups in the format, are currently at No. 11. In T20Is, Sri Lanka are eighth, while Zimbabwe are in 13th place, and have also missed out on qualification for the 2024 T20 World Cup after finishing behind Namibia and Uganda in the qualifiers, played in Namibia recently.

Keeping the World Cup in mind, this will be useful game time for the Sri Lankans, who also have T20I series lined up against Afghanistan (three games, at home) and Bangladesh (three games, away) in early 2024. The World Cup will be played in the Caribbean and the USA in June.

This year, when the focus was more on ODIs because of the 50-over World Cup, Sri Lanka have played just six T20Is, winning two (both against Ireland at home) and losing four (in New Zealand, and against Pakistan at home).

The tour will kick off with the ODIs, to be played on January 6, 8 and 11, and will be followed by the T20Is, to be played on January 14, 16 and 18. All the matches will be played at Colombo's R Premadasa Stadium.

The games had initially been pencilled in to take place in Dambulla and Kandy, however with the Under-19 World Cup having been shifted to South Africa, the option to host in Colombo had opened up.