Team India is all set to take on Zimbabwe in the third T20I on Wednesday in Harare. Opener Abhishek Sharma broke several records with his maiden T20I century against Zimbabwe in the second T20I of the five-match series on Sunday. Abhishek’s knock helped India defeat Zimbabwe by 100 runs and level the series 1-1. This match will be a special one for India as the T20 World Cup winners Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, and Shivam Dube have also joined the squad. Shubman Gill and co are likely to make a few changes to their lineup, in order to include Jaiswal in the Playing XI.
Abhishek, the left-handed opener, did enough to live up to his pre-series hype with a 46-ball century in only his second game and did look the part opening the innings.
However, Jaiswal, with a handsome strike rate of 161 plus in 17 T20I matches, including a hundred and four half-centuries, does have the first claim to be skipper Shubman Gill’s opening partner by virtue of being the reserve opener of the first-choice T20 team.
Although rare but it is not uncommon for batters to be dropped in the very next match after a milestone innings.
But skipper Gill is unlikely to let that happen with his best friend since their U-14 days and someone who scored his first international ton with a willow borrowed from the former.
So, it could well be a case of one of the two southpaws batting at one drop. Sanju Samson, who normally bats at No. 3 for Rajasthan Royals, might come in at No.5, while Ruturaj Gaikwad, who batted at No.3, will probably drop down a place to No.4.
As far as Zimbabwe is concerned, their batting has left a lot to be desired with scores of 115 while batting first and 134 in the second essay chasing 235.
On the Harare Sports Club track where there is a bit of extra bounce available for the spinners, Ravi Bishnoi (6/24 from 8 overs) and Washington Sundar (3/39 in 8 overs) have proved to be unplayable at times.
Bishnoi, who normally bowls 20 to 22 googlies in his 24 balls per match, has varied his pace brilliantly and with home skipper Sikandar Raza being kept quiet, the other batters haven’t looked good enough to counter the Indian bowling attack.
India’s Predicted XI for the 3rd T20I: Shubman Gill (c), Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad/Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar
(With PTI Inputs)
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