Zimbabwe, however, were expected to perform a lot better. They came into the match with a resounding series win against Bangladesh and they were facing an opposition that wasn’t at full strength. Yet they still went down without putting up a fight. The only positive, apart from the decent opening spell by the quicks, was a brief counterattack from their ninth-wicket pair of Brad Evans and Richard Ngarava. This is also the fifth straight loss for them in a match that has Super League status.
Zimbabwe LLWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India WWWWW
Zimbabwe need a better performance from their top-order, but they are short of options. Even those on the bench right now – Milton Shumba and Takudzwanashe Kaitano – have struggled to make an impact.
Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Tadiwanashe Marumani, 2 Innocent Kaia, 3 Sean Williams, 4 Wessly Madhevere, 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Regis Chakabva (capt & wk), 7 Ryan Burl, 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Bradley Evans, 10 Victor Nyauchi, 11 Richard Ngarava
India are likely to go with the same XI, unless they want to give Ruturaj Gaikwad or Rahul Tripathi a chance.
India (probable): 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 KL Rahul (capt), 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Sanju Samson (wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Mohammed Siraj
The conditions in the first ODI helped the fast bowlers, who found movement in the air and off the pitch with the new ball. Expect more of the same on Saturday. The weather is set fair, with a maximum temperature of 28°C.
“I am enjoying batting with the youngster [Shubman Gill] and I feel like a youngster too. My rhythm with Gill has settled nicely. The way he bats and times the ball is lovely to watch. He has shown the consistency in converting fifties into bigger fifties”
Shikhar Dhawan can’t stop praising his opening partner