Shubman Gill and Sikandar Raza during toss at India vs Zimbabwe 5th T20I© AFP

IND vs ZIM Live: Squads –

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill(c), Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson(w), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel

Zimbabwe: Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Brian Bennett, Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza(c), Johnathan Campbell, Faraz Akram, Clive Madande(w), Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani, Tendai Chatara, Luke Jongwe, Wellington Masakadza, Brandon Mavuta, Innocent Kaia, Antum Naqvi

Shubman Gill was happy to tick off the “chase” box from his skipper’s check list in an emphatic manner as he was glowing in his praise for young team comprising of “great bunch of players”. Yashasvi Jaiswal (93 off 53 balls) and skipper Gill (58 off 39 balls) hunted down a target of 153 with 28 balls to spare and the skipper expects this team to move forward in right direction. “Chasing was one thing we talked about. We could not do it in the first game, so good to get it done. The job is not done, though,” Gill stated during the post-match presentation.

“This is a great team, great bunch of players. Hopefully, we will be able to take the team forward.” With the series already in the pocket, when asked about changes in the playing XI for the final fixture on Sunday, Gill did not reveal anything significant.

“Haven’t had the discussion with the coach. If there are any changes, we will let you know at the toss tomorrow,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jaiswal was adjudged the man of the match for his commanding outing with the bat, while he admitted that he had to enjoy the decent batting turf at play on Saturday.

“I really enjoyed my batting today. I had my plans for different bowlers. The ball was coming on when it was new and as it got old, it was quite slow. I enjoyed batting with Shubman,” he said.

“I understood and changed my game. We really enjoyed together. Initially, I wanted to go after my shots. After that, I wanted to rotate and wanted to stay till the end.” Jaiswal said that for him, the more important aspect is his process of preparation. “My diet, sleeping pattern, how I am executing my plans in practice However, on the other hand, Zimbabwean captain Sikandar Raza had a contrasting take on the Harare pitch, which he felt was slow, especially when his team was put in to bat first.

“I think because the wicket was a touch on the slower side, we thought 160 was a par score, but 180 wouldn’t have been enough. Today is the day you hold your heads high and say they batted better,” he opinionated.

“The heavy roller did the trick for them. It became a beautiful wicket.” But Raza expressed his confidence in the team gaining confidence and that they would become a competitive side soon.

“I am very sure we will be a very competitive side in a short time. There was a bit of kick (and) bounce, and we had to reign ourselves in. We will want to finish the series 3-2 tomorrow,” he concluded.

Worked a lot on my cutters and yorkers: Khaleel Ahmed

Notably, Khaleel bowled quite a few slower deliveries, and the trick worked against the Chevrons, as he seized the wickets of Dion Myers (12) and Clive Madande (7) in the closing stages of the innings.

Commenting on the same, the 26-year-old thanked his stint as a reserve player for the Men in Blue during the T20 World Cup in the Americas, where he worked on his slower ones.

“I was part of the World Cup reserves, and there, I worked a lot on my cutters and yorkers. I am very happy with my performance. The kind of rhythm I have got, and the execution has been great,” he told the broadcaster following the victory.

“This series is everything for me. When I was not part of the dressing room, I was missing it a lot. Very happy to be a part of it. We have all played in the IPL; we are all together in this.”

India will find it tough to choose between Yashasvi Jaiswal’s seemingly effortless flamboyance and Abhishek Sharma’s uber-cool aggression at the top when they rejig their combination to make space for World Cup-winning squad members in the third T20 International against Zimbabwe in Harare on Wednesday. The arrival of Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube, all of whom were part of the main team during the title-winning run last month, gives the Indian team a formidable look in the most important game of the series as visitors look to press home the advantage after the booster shot of a series-levelling 100-run victory in the second match.

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.

Case in point were Manoj Tiwary, immediately after his maiden ODI hundred against the West Indies in 2011, and Karun Nair after his triple hundred in a Test match against England in 2016.

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 the changes in the playing eleven are concerned, Jaiswal is likely to replace B Sai Sudharsan, who was selected only for the first two games.

Samson will come in place of Dhruv Jurel, who had a good outing behind the stumps.

Dube, the only player who was a part of T20 World Cup playing XI, is likely to walk in to replace Riyan Parag. The imposing batter could be an even bigger nemesis for the Zimbabwean spinners during the back-10.

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.

The 13-run shock defeat in the opener was a timely wake-up call for the young visiting side and it did well to play without five specialist bowlers in the second game where batting first became an advantage.

For skipper Gill, a good score would be a necessity after two dry games and he is just too good a player to fail thrice. That could prove to be an ominous sign for the home team bowlers, who don’t have even one guy with express pace.

In a nutshell, it could be another one-sided game.

India: Shubman Gill (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Khaleel Ahmed, Tushar Deshpande.

Zimbabwe: Sikandar Raza (captain), Faraz Akram, Brian Bennett, Johnathan Campbell, Tendai Chatara, Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Brandon Mavuta, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Antum Naqvi, Richard Ngarava, Milton Shumba.

Indian cricket team captain Shubman Gill© X (formerly Twitter)

Shubman Gill will be leading India against Zimbabwe© X (Twitter)