India seek welcome distraction in T20 bouts

Friday 17 July
Start time 1.00pm (11.00am GMT)

India were expecting a challenge from Zimbabwe in the ODIs, and while that did happen at certain points, India won each match by increasingly greater margins. Given India's vast experience in the format, they will be confident of carrying their success into the Twenty20 games. Zimbabwe's hopes will rest upon the fact that individual performances can impact the result of an entire match in this format, and their squad - and particularly the batsmen - contains several players who could do just that.

India have actually not played a T20I since last their narrow loss to England in the one-off match last September, but virtually none of the current team was there anyway. Ajinkya Rahane obviously has oodles of experience from the IPL, but even international newcomers Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav and Sandeep Sharma, who is yet to debut, will feel right at home.

One thing that will be weighing on the minds of some members of the squad will be the recent ruling of the Lodha Commission in India, with the owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals both being suspended from the IPL for two years. The players most directly affected are Mohit Sharma, who was at Super Kings, and Rahane, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sanju Samson and Stuart Binny, who were all with Royals. Success in Zimbabwe, low key though this series is, would be a welcome distraction.

Zimbabwe will be buoyed by their most recent performances in Pakistan, when they pushed both T20s into the final over with the result undecided, but there is no escaping their greenness in this format. They generally started well with the ball in the ODIs, and the key for them may be taking pace off the ball in an attempt to restrict India's scoring options.

In players such as Sikandar Raza, Hamilton Masakadza and Charles Coventry, Zimbabwe also have batsmen capable of taking any attack apart on their day. A win for Zimbabwe on Friday, unlikely though that might be, would virtually guarantee a full house at Harare Sports Club on Sunday, as well as providing a most welcome morale boost ahead of a busy season.

(Last five completed matches, most recent first)

Zimbabwe: LLWWL
India: LLWWW

Charles Coventry is perhaps the Zimbabwe batsman most suited to T20 cricket, with the ability to clear the boundary on both sides of the wicket, and an audacious approach to batting no matter what the format. His comeback to the side has been unspectacular, however, and Zimbabwe will be hoping that he can live up to the hype of a career T20I strike-rate of 161.42.

At first glance, Ajinkya Rahane's style may not appear to be tailored for the mad dash of T20 batting, but the right-handed opener has put his high left elbow and orthodox stroke play to good effect and finished as the leading Indian batsman in the most recent IPL. With Rahane leading from the front, he'll be the man to lay a platform for India, and his will be a vital wicket for Zimbabwe up front.

Craig Ervine has recovered fully from his hamstring injury, passing a fitness test earlier this week, but Tinashe Panyangara will not be available for both the matches against India, because of a muscle tear sustained while bowling during the first ODI. Also unavailable is Sean Williams, who injured his right knee during the second ODI. Scans on his knee showed a normal joint without any bone fracture, and Williams has been referred to an orthopaedic specialist for further assessment. Charles Coventry will slot straight into the side as wicketkeeper, while Neville Madziva's aptitude as a death bowler should warrant selection. Chris Mpofu, Zimbabwe's most experienced seamer in T20 cricket, was also part of the set-up during the T20s in Pakistan and could come into the side.

Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Charles Coventry (wk), 4 Elton Chigumbura (captain), 5 Craig Ervine, 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Malcolm Waller, 8 Prosper Utseya, 9 Graeme Cremer, 10 Neville Madziva, 11 Chris Mpofu.

India don't have any of the injury worries that Zimbabwe do, but Rahane stressed in the pre-match press conference that India were targeting overall success before individual opportunities, so they could well go in with a team very similar to the one which played with success in the ODIs. A possible change could be Sanju Samson for Robin Uthappa, as Uthappa managed just 45 runs in three innings during the one-dayers.

India (possible): 1 Ajinkya Rahane (captain), 2 M Vijay, 3 Manoj Tiwary, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 Sanju Samson (wk), 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Axar Patel, 10 Mohit Sharma, 11 Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

The pitch for this match will be the same one on which the first and closest match of the ODIs was played upon, and it can be expected that it will behave in much the same way. The amount of swing and seam on offer throughout both innings surprised many during the ODIs, with the use of the Dukes ball surely playing a part in that, and the T20s should be contested around a fairly equal battle between bat and ball.

"I think the main thing is to keep being competitive and get ourselves into those winning positions. The more we get there the easier it will be to learn how to get over the line."
Hamilton Masakadza is hoping that Zimbabwe will be able to turn near-misses into successful results.

"My only focus is on these two T20s - I'm not thinking about the IPL. If you represent your country, your only aim is to give your best for your country and win matches for them."
Ajinkya Rahane has not been distracted by the seismic changes unfolding in Indian cricket back home.