Match Preview: India vs Zimbabwe, 2nd ODI

The young-looking  team India would look forward to exert their dominance over visibly-clueless Zimbabwe. Though the Indian team lacks experience, the captain had lead the team from the front in the first ODI, and in-turn has motivated his team to perform well. Whereas Zimbabweans were out-played by some excellent batting from Kohli and Debutant Ambati Rayadu.

India  : They have had a purple patch for the past 2 months, winning the champions league without losing a single match, and following it by a tri-series victory over Sri Lanka and West Indies, after nearly getting knocked out in the group matches. Though the majority of the seniors have been rested, they are still a force to reckon with, trashing Zimbabwe by 6 wickets. Though the openers couldn’t contribute much, it is just a matter of time when Dhawan and Rohit come up with big knocks. The middle order looks good, with the captain in tremendous form and Ambati Rayadu looking good. Though the bowling has been good in the first match, death bowling is always a concern and Kohli would like his bowlers to put up an impressive show. It will be intresting as to how the Zimbabweans handle Jadeja, who surprisingly went wicketless in the first match.

Zimbabwe: The Zimbabwe team is in now way less talented. Their batting looks good, with Raza playing well in the first match. While Chigumbura chips in with some useful runs, it will be intresting how the captain performs. Their real concern has been the bowling. Though they got the initial break-throughs of Dhawan and Sharma in the first match, they could not exert pressure on the new-batsmen, who took away the match from the Zimbabweans. The bowlers will have to step up if they need to have even a slight chance against the mighty Indians.

 My Prediction : Unless Zimbabwe comes out with an exceptional batting and bowling performance, it will be a piece-of-cake for the visiting Indians.

Teams:

Zimbabwe (From): Brendan Taylor(w/c), Sikandar Raza, Tendai Chatara, Michael Chinouya,Elton Chigumbura, Graeme Cremer, Kyle Jarvis, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza, Natsai Mushangwe, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Vusi Sibanda, Prosper Utseya, Brian Vitori, Malcolm Waller,Sean Williams, Ray Price

India (From): Virat Kohli(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Parvez Rasool, Shami Ahmed, Vinay Kumar, Jaidev Unadkat, Mohit Mahipal Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan