 India play Zimbabwe in the first of the two T20Is at Harare on Saturday.
And given the manner in which the Indians have played in the ODI series, it will
be rather difficult to christen them as favourites in a format of the game which
has already seen Zimbabwe beat West Indies, Australia and Pakistan in the recent
times.
Click for Live Score Card of Zimbabwe Vs India
The good news from the Indian perspective is that the games will start four
hours later than when the ODIs would begin. This will mean that the slowness
and the moisture in the track would have been overcome by then and that would
make it an even contest; and not side the team winning the toss and electing
to field first.
It is a given that the team winning the toss will want to field first and for
obvious reasons in this format of the game. However, given the two line-ups,
my personal take is that the Indians have the batting firepower to take on the
Zimbabweans better than the ODIs. They will need to send Yusuf Pathan
up the order, such that he has at least the last ten overs to bat. This will
ensure that he can then build the innings and make sure that he has enough overs
in the end to smack the ball all around the park.
Of course, with a bowling line up that India has, a second string bowling
to the core, it will not get easier for the Indians. Especially if they are
defending a target and so, it may so happen that even they will want to field
first.
Zimbabwe has had an amazing tri-series, and though they lost the game to Sri
Lanka in the final, they played well throughout the tournament. The likes of
Brendan Taylor and Tatenda Taibu had a good initiation with the bat,
and hence were really the cornerstone of the Zimbabwean success.
However, one cannot forget the manner in which the Zimbabwean spinners bowled
to the opposition. Ray Price was almost miserly and made things so difficult
that it was throttling, whereas the likes of Prosper Utseya, Greg Lamb and Graeme Cremer made the role of the quick bowlers almost redundant.
The T20 cricket will obviously test Zimbabwe to the fullest but it must be
remembered that the scales will be more heavily tipped in their favour than
India given that it gives them more chances to come hard at India.
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