Big picture – Lots of possibilities
Zimbabwe will also see an opportunity, not only to disturb the newly appointed champions after not being able to enter the World Cup. Hosting the series in India brings an influx of money and there is no dearth of eyeballs, some of whom may be looking for skills that can translate to success in various franchise tournaments around the world. These days, the game of cricket is not just an opportunity to bring glory to the team.
Form guide
Zimbabwe WLLLL (last five T20Is completed, most recent)
India WWWWW
Highlights – Shubman Gill and Sikandar Raza
Shubman Gill it’s in the middle of a slow beep. His first real stint as captain, until April and May, did not go as planned when Gujarat Titans finished eight out of ten teams in IPL 2024. His time with India in the T20 World Cup in June was very short but now in July he finds himself in a position to perform his favorite, at least in these five games. Will he bat as India wants his batsmen to be aggressive from the first ball, or will he do something different?
Team news – Count debuts
This Indian team is a huge work in progress and hence the XIs that will emerge from it may not have all their basics. Batting, for example, may go down to No. 7 which does not encourage the philosophy of hitting every ball out of the park they try to do well. Also, the players themselves have yet to prove themselves at this level. Then again, they haven’t been exposed to it all that often either. Check out the debuts. It could be four or five. Gill confirmed that Abhishek Sharma will open the batting alongside him.
India (probable): 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Dhruv Jurel/Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Tushar Deshpande, 11 Khaleel Ahmed
Zimbabwe is looking for new talent. Some of their most famous players such as Sean Williams and Craig Ervine were not considered for this series and Ryan Burl was excluded. Wessly Madhevere and Brandon Mavuta, returned to the competition after being suspended for four months for using drugs.
Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Brian Bennett, 2 Tadiwanashe Marumani, 3 Sikandar Raza (capt), 4 Johnathan Campbell, 5 Antum Naqvi, 6 Clive Madande (wk), 7 Wessly Madhevere, 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Faraz Akram, 10 Wellington Masakadza, 11 Blessing Muzarabani
Voice and context – Works for a fee
This will be the first T20I in Harare of the year. First innings totals in the past have been a bit mediocre, with only five of the last 12, going past 150. In those last 12 matches, the spinners (69 wickets at 19.71 and an economy rate of 6.6) have done better than the fast bowlers. bowlers (80 wickets at 25.92 and an economy rate of 7.82). There is no threat of rain with temperatures in the mid 20C.
Math and trivia
- India have faced Zimbabwe in only eight T20Is over 14 years. They have won six and lost two.
- Raza needs 53 more to become the first Zimbabwean to score 2000 runs in T20Is.
Alagappan Muthu is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
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