As India play their last match of their tour of Zimbabwe, one has to admit that it hasn’t really been a memorable series so far, even though India have maintained a 100% record so far. Indian fans love winning, but the quality of the opposition matters as well. There is not point, really, in beating a team like Zimbabwe, considering the enormous gap between the two nations.
It is just a miracle that Zimbabwe can get a team together, when you consider the severity of the problems in that country. Many of their best players have chosen to emigrate to greener pastures abroad rather than struggle for low pay in a country in which cricket does not really have much of a future. Money is a huge problem in Zimbabwe and sadly, the Zimbabwean Cricket Board does not really have much of it.
Back to the cricket – there is not much to talk about. The matches have been completely one-sided except for the first ODI in which Zimbabwe came so deliciously close to beating India, losing eventually only by 4 runs. Zimbabwean bowlers are inexperienced and quite frankly, mediocre in talent. They lack discipline too, as can be seen from the fact that they gifted the Indians 25 extras in the first T20.
Zimbabwe should do better when they chase. For example, their batsmen have a tendency to play too many dot balls, before going for a big hit for a boundary or six. That’s not really smart cricket because the top batsmen in world cricket understand the importance of rotating the strike to keep the score going. That Zimbabwe have failed to do something as simple as that points out to a failure from the coach Dave Whatmore, who is an experienced international cricket coach and should know better.
For Zimbabwe, a lot rests on Hamilton Masakadza who is their premier batsmen. They need Mount Masakadza to get a big score. For Indians, wicketkeeper/batsman Robin Uthappa would want to take advantage of every opportunity to put Indian captain M S Dhoni under pressure. Other young players will want to do their best as well, to push the established players in the Indian set up for a place in the regular side.
It is also hoped that Craig Ervine plays higher up the order. For India, young Sanju Samson is expected to be given a game in place of the injured Ambati Rayudu, who has had a fine series.
The Teams
Zimbabwe: 1 Chamu Chibhabha, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Craig Ervine, 4 Elton Chigumbura (captain), 5 Charles Coventry (wk), 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Graeme Cremer, 8 Prosper Utseya, 9 Neville Madzia, 10 John Nyumbu, 11 Chris Mpofu.
India: 1 Ajinkya Rahane (captain), 2 M Vijay, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Kedar Jadhav/Sanju Samson, 6 Stuart Binny, 7 Harbhajan Singh, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Mohit Sharma, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Sandeep Sharma.
Match Conditions
The pitches in Zimbabwe have been unbelievably slow and placid and we expect the same tomorrow as well. As you might expect, it will be bright, sunny and extremely hot tomorrow.
Watch India take on Zimbabwe in the 2nd Twenty20 live from Harare on Ten Sports at 4:30 PM on Sunday!
