India are playing their first T20I since September 2014, when they lost a one-off to England in Birmingham, whereas Zimbabwe played two during their landmark tour of Pakistan in May. During those two games in Lahore, the batting was not a problem.
Zimbabwe posted 172 for 6 and 175 for 3 in both games, but the bowlers were unable to stop Pakistan from winning by five wickets and two wickets respectively. Both T20Is were pushed into the last over, with Pakistan having three balls and two balls in hand, and against India the home team will hope to be more potent.
Owing to the IPL, not playing a T20I in nine months won't be much of a concern for Rahane's India. Like Zimbabwe, India have the same squad for the full series and there are little changes expected. The only question is over Manoj Tiwary, who did not make any impact during the ODIs. He could be replaced by Sanju Samson in the middle order, who has yet to make his India debut. Sandeep Sharma, the young Punjab pace bowler, is another who has yet to get the nod but whether he gets a place depends on whether the team management opts to rest Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
With the likes of Harbhajan Singh, who had a fine IPL 8 for Mumbai Indians, and Axar Patel to bowl eight overs of spin between them, Zimbabwe's batsmen will continue to face an uphill battle to dominate.
Zimbabwe's XI may be a bit different from the last ODI, with in-form opener Chamu Chibhabha getting a chance at the top in T20Is, having previously played in the lower middle order. The allrounder Sean Williams lost his place for the third ODI but could come back into the reckoning considering he batted at No 3 in Zimbabwe's last ODI and scored 58 to out from 32 balls. Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwe's leading wicket-taker in T20Is with 25 from 30 games, should get a look-in dispute playing just one ODI against India.
The last time India played Zimbabwe was at the same location in 2010, when a similarly depleted Indian team won the series 2-0. That series, in fact, was the only time these two countries have met in T20Is.
Little is riding on the two game series for India, ranked second in the ICC team ratings for T20Is, but for Zimbabwe at 14th out of 15 teams - they are behind Afghanistan, Scotland, Netherlands and Ireland and above only Nepal - getting into form ahead of next year's World Twenty20 in India is imperative. Zimbabwe will compete with the bottom ranked eight teams in the group stage of the tournament, from which two teams advance to the Super 10 stage.
Zimbabwe: 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Chamu Chibabha, 3 Sean Williams, 4 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Richmond Mutumbani (wk), 7 Malcolm Waller, 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Prosper Usteya, 11 Donald Tiripano, 11 Neville Madziva/Brian Vitori
India: 1 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 2 Murali Vijay, 3 Robin Uthappa (wk), 4 Manoj Tiwary/Sanju Samson, 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Axar Patel, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Mohit Sharma
No comments:
Post a Comment