Another format, same result? India look to inflict further misery on Zimbabwe in T20I series

Having earned two days of well-deserved rest after drubbing their opposition 3-0 in the ODI leg of the tour of Zimbabwe, the Indian cricket team will gear up for what could turn out to be an equally one-sided three-match T20 series, the first game of which will take place on Saturday.

India couldn’t have asked for an easier stroll in the park so far, having won the three ODIs by margins of nine, eight and 10 wickets respectively. The results have all followed a similar pattern — bowl the opposition out for a paltry score and then chase the target down with relative ease. The 3-0 result was as demoralising for the hosts, as it was a snoozefest for MS Dhoni’s India.

For the visitors, who bowled first in all three games of the tour so far, much of the damage early in the innings was done by the bowlers, with the trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni and Barinder Sran exerting pressure on the Zimbabwean batsmen from the onset, preventing them from scoring too many runs, the pressure of which eventually caused them to lose wickets in a heap.

Bumrah was fantastic as usual, ending up as the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with nine scalps to his credit at an average of 8.55. If Kulkarni and Sran induced the batsmen to go for the risky shots early in the innings and perish in the process, then Bumrah was vicious in that phase of the innings in which he already is something of a specialist — the death overs.

However, it was leg-spinner Chahal who shone the brightest, especially considering this was his debut ODI series. His three quick scalps in the second game sparked off the first big collapse of the series, the performance of which earned him his maiden man-of-the-match award in only his second international outing.

While Dhoni is likely to retain Chahal to bamboozle the Zimbabwean batsman in the T20 games as well, there are certain changes that have to take place in the bowling unit, as the whole point of the tour is to test India’s bench strength. Bringing in unheralded pacer Jaydev Unadkat and off-spinner Jayant Yadav in place of Sran and Axar Patel might be a likely change for Dhoni.

As far as the batting is concerned, only five Indian batsmen got an opportunity to bat in the entire series, of which Manish Pandey faced only one delivery. The ODI series was also a landmark tour for Karnataka and RCB wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul, who scored 196 runs, including a century on debut, Vidarbha southpaw Faiz Fazal and Ambati Rayudu were the other stars, with the former hammering a half-century in his first-ever ODI outing.

It was only Karun Nair whose form was patchy in the two matches he played, though he did manage to score 39 in the second game. It is likely that Fazal will be retained as opener, unless Dhoni decides to promote the likes of Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey or Mandeep Singh to ensure they get a chance to bat.

As far as the fielding is concerned, India were attacking in an overall sense, although there were those occasions when Rahul let the ball slip between his legs for a boundary. And even though a dropped catch never made much of a difference to the eventual result, some decent saves as well as well-timed catches will add flavour to the CVs of the youngsters, who are currently being examined for the tougher battles that lie ahead of them.

For hosts Zimbabwe, the tour seems more of a punishment arranged by the gods above for cleansing their sins than one that is meant to be a valuable learning experience. Given the fact that the selectors picked a fairly decent-strength squad for the tour, the hosts were expected to put up some fight to say the least.

While there aren’t too many changes in Zimbabwe’s ODI and T20I squads, the hosts were dealt a double-blow when the experienced duo of Craig Ervine and Sean Williams was ruled out of the T20s due to hamstring niggles and a fractured finger respectively.

Their replacements — Brian Chari and Tinotenda Mutombodzi — may not quite match up to their experience and have a fairly decent domestic limited-overs record to justify their spot in the squad. Also picked in the T20I squad is opening batsman Chamu Chibhabha, who managed to put up a better fight against the Indian attack in the ODIs than most of the remaining members of his squad (even though that isn’t really saying much).

With 96 runs from three games, including a hard-fought half-century in the second match, Vusi Sibanda is clearly the stand-out Zimbabwean performer so far, and all eyes will be on his form in the remainder of the tour. Other highly experienced members such as Hamilton Masakadza and Elton Chigumbura also have a crucial role to play if they are to emulate their T20I performances against India last year, in which they came from behind to pull off a series-levelling victory against India.

Squads:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c,wk), KL Rahul, Faiz Fazal, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Mandeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Barindar Sran, Dhawal Kulkarni, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Jayant Yadav.

Zimbabwe: Graeme Cremer (c), Vusimuzi Sibanda, Sikandar Raza, Elton Chigumbura, Hamilton Masakadza, Wellington Masakadza, Tendai Chatara, Chamu Chibhaha, Donald Tiripano, Malcolm Waller, Peter Moor, Tapiwa Mufudza, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Richmond Mutumbami (wk), Taurai Muzarabani, Brian Chari, Neville Madziva, Timycen Maruma.