After taking an unassailable 2-0 lead, Team India will look to affect a series whitewash over Zimbabwe when they take the field on Monday at Harare Sports Club. The visitors have done exceedingly well in the last two games, trumping their hapless opponents on all fronts. The face-off on Monday will provide India with yet another opportunity to carry out experimentation keeping the bigger next year’s ICC World Cup in mind which is scheduled to be held at home.
KL Rahul managed to wipe off the disappointment of the South Africa tour which was his first experience as India’s ODI captain. But the Men in Blue couldn’t win the series. A victory in Zimbabwe is indeed sweet but a clean sweep on Monday will add more taste to it.
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A lot was speculated about the performance of the second-string Indian team before the tour. Since Zimbabwe were coming into the contest after humiliating Bangladesh, the challenge for the visitors looked easy. But a talented pool of players didn’t disappoint the Indian fans at all and produced a phenomenal show yet again.
In the absence of the front-line bowlers, this attack has performed extremely well and showed what it is capable of, and the quality of opposition is no reason to undermine the efforts of committed people like Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, and Axar Patel.
However, some fine-tuning is needed on the batting front and the think tank must have taken note of it after the 2nd ODI which India won by 5 wickets. India will look to continue their winning momentum and seal their third consecutive ODI series victory after England and West Indies.
Weather report
India vs Zimbabwe Second ODI will take place at Harare Sports Club. The weather seems to be mostly sunny in Harare on Monday. No signs of showers are predicted during the entire day. The maximum temperature will hover just below 24 degrees Celsius during the game. The wind speed on the day will be somewhere around 32 km/h. There will be a cloud cover of 27 percent that’s nothing to worry about.
Pitch Report
The pitches of Harare Sports club usually aid bowlers, especially pacers. The surface with a slight grass covering will provide consistent bounce and carry for the bowlers. However, the clear sky is likely to offer help to batters as well. Batters will get value for their shots and the outfield will also be quite quick.
India has multiple 300-plus scores at this venue.
Here are the squads:
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul (c), Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Shahbaz Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rahul Tripathi , Deepak Chahar.
Zimbabwe: Innocent Kaia, Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Wesley Madhevere, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Regis Chakabva (c & wk), Ryan Burl, Luke Jongwe, Brad Evans, Victor Nyauchi, Tanaka Chivanga, Donald Tiripano, Milton Shumba, Tony Munyonga, Clive Madande, John Masara, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Richard Ngarava
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