quit Zimbabwe chose bowling against India
Sikandar Raza won the toss and elected to play at the Harare Sports Club in a bid to keep the three-match T20I series alive. Raza felt that the surface would not be as “sharp” as the one on which they managed just 125 for 7 runs first in the first match of the series and then lost by seven wickets. Shreyas Iyer, who lost his first toss since taking over as India T20I captain last month, announced one change: Vidarbha’s Yash Thakur received his India cap, replacing Ashok Sharma, who made his debut in the previous game. Ashok finished with figures of 0 for 29 after four overs.
Thakur, like Ashok, was part of the BCCI’s task force of fast bowlers for a time and worked hard under the support staff under VVS Laxman at the Center of Excellence.
Although he featured in just one IPL match for the Punjab Kings this season, he was Vidarbha’s leading wicket-taker during their run to the maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title (50 overs), taking 19 wickets in nine games at an economy of 6.43.
With five T20I caps to his name, Prince Yadav remained the most experienced Indian seamer in the XI. Ravi Bishnoi continued to be the only opener, leaving Harsh Dubey waiting to make his debut in the shortest format. They are also down to just four specialist bowlers in their squad, with Shivam Dube and Abhishek Sharma slated to take over as the fifth bowler.
After losing the T20I series to Ireland and England, reigning T20 World Champions India are aiming to win the series.
Zimbabwe: 1 Brian Bennett, 2 Ben Curran, 3 Dion Myers, 4 Sikandar Raza (capt), 5 Ryan Burl, 6 Wessley Madhiver, 7 Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), 8 Brad Evans, 9 Newman Nyamhuri, 10 Richard Ngarawa, 11 Blessing Muzarabani
India: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Rinku Singh, 8 Yash Thakur, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Mayank Yadav, 11 Prince Yadav