Big picture: India finally gets a W
You’ll have to think hard to remember the last time India’s victory over Zimbabwe seemed so remarkable. Bilateral series between the two teams mean little at present and in World Cup games, India are clear favourites. Yet their seven-wicket win in the first T20I in Harare was a real relief.
India arrived in Zimbabwe with the baggage of series defeats against Ireland and England. The reigning T20 World champions, under new captain Shreyas Iyer, are on a seven-match winless streak. Restricting Zimbabwe to 125 for 7 and then chasing them down in 13.2 overs was imperative. In years to come this will look like an inconsequential result in an inconsequential series, but for now it has confused the monkey. In the remaining two games, which will also be played in Harare, they will feel much more confident.
For Zimbabwe, one defeat will not knock their confidence. They are playing their best cricket in years and even Thursday’s defeat had plenty of positives. Among them was reaching 125 after being reduced to 32 for 4, and one of the players who made it possible was wicketkeeper Tadivanashe Marumani. When Ben Curran made his T20I debut and opened the innings, Zimbabwe used Marumani as a finisher. Despite never batting below No. 3 in his previous 70 T20I matches, Marumani impressed with an unbeaten 27 off 20 balls from No. 7.
And if you exclude prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Zimbabwe’s bowlers conceded only 70 runs to the Indian batters in 61 balls. However, to beat even this weak Indian team, they will need a much more well-rounded game.
Form Guide
Zimbabwe LLLWL (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
India BLLLLL
Spotlight: Blessing Muzarabani vs Vaibhav Suryavanshi
Conditions during the first T20I seemed tailor-made for Blessing of Muzarabani. The 6ft 8in fast bowler took extra bounce off the Harare pitch and kept India’s batting order in check. He conceded just three runs in his first two overs and removed the dangerous Abhishek Sharma.For a while, Muzarabani looked invincible, if not unplayable. Then Vaibhav Suoryavanshi has done something that already makes him one of the most exciting batters in world cricket. In Muzarabani’s third over, he launched two fours and a six on his way to an 18-ball fifty. At 15 years and 118 days, he became the youngest player to score a fifty in men’s international cricket.
Get ready for two more rounds of Muzarabani vs Sooryavanshi in the next two days.
Team News: Shreyas is the only right-handed batsman in India’s top seven
Zimbabwe used four seamers in the first T20I. If they want variety, they could bring in left-arm spinner Wellington Masakazu instead of Newman Nyamhuri. But with India’s squad loaded with left-arm batters, that seems unlikely.
Zimbabwe (likely): 1 Brian Bennett, 2 Ben Curran, 3 Dion Myers, 4 Sikandar Raza (capt), 5 Ryan Burl, 6 Wesley Madhiver, 7 Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), 8 Brad Evans, 9 Newman Nyamkhuli/Wellington Masakadza, 10 Richard Ngarawa, 11 Blessing Muzarabani
India are unlikely to change their winning combination, meaning Shivam Dube will once again be their fifth bowler.
India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Rinku Singh, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Mayank Yadav, 10 Prince Yadav, 11 Ashok Sharma
Pitch and conditions: fun for bowlers again
The pitch for the first T20I was very beneficial for the fast bowlers as early humidity made it difficult to hit over the line. Expect similar conditions on Saturday. The weather should be clear, temperature around 20°C.
Stats and trivia: Bennett looks at 2000 T20I runs
- India played 13 T20I matches in Zimbabwe – all at the Harare Sports Club.
- If Iyer wins the toss on Saturday, he will become the first man to do so in each of his first nine international games as captain, surpassing England’s Wally Hammond’s record.
- Abhishek has the highest strike rate (188.69) among all batters who have scored at least 1000 T20I runs.
- Brian Bennett is ten runs short of the 2000 T20I. Sikandar Raza (3144) and Ryan Burl (2040) are the only Zimbabwean batters to achieve this feat.
Hemant Brar is Deputy Editor of Cricinfo