Harare, July 25 (IANS) An unchanged Zimbabwe have won the toss and elected to bowl first against India at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday. India are leading the three-game series 1-0 and a win on Saturday will help them take an unassailable lead.
After winning the toss, Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza said his playing eleven is unchanged from their seven-wicket loss on Thursday. “First reason being the winter wicket as we know, it’s slightly spicier at the start, so hopefully we can make early inroads and then see what comes in the batting order later on.
“The surface is certainly a lot better today than it was in the first game, so it may not be as spicy, but we know that in Harare, especially during winter, there will be a bit of spice at the start and hopefully our seamers can make inroads. If they do, it’ll go a long way towards helping us stop them. We’re going to back the same boys,” he said.
India skipper Shreyas Iyer said pacer Yash Thakur has been handed his international debut and replaces Ashok Sharma in the playing eleven. Thakur, 27, represents Punjab Kings in the IPL and won the Ranji Trophy in 2024/25 with Vidarbha. He has been a regular with the India ‘A’ team for the last 12 months.
“We were going to bat first. It looks a bit different. It is not that tacky as the first game. Let’s make sure it is a belter to bat on. We just pass on the message to stay in the present, it is essential to stay in the moment and play to the best of our abilities,” he said.
Playing XIs
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Ben Curran, Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza (captain), Ryan Burl, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Brad Evans, Newman Nyamhuri, Richard Ngarava, and Blessing Muzarabani
India: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, and Mayank Yadav
–IANS
nr/