In the 4th Twenty20 International match against Zimbabwe on Saturday in Harare, a number of Indian youngsters who have rediscovered their form will be eager to win this series and embark on a new journey in the shortest format.
The second and third matches saw the Shubman Gill-led team find their rhythm as they took a commanding 2-1 lead in convincing style after suffering an unexpected loss in the opening game.
While winning a series against Zimbabwe is not something that is held in high esteem within today’s cricket fraternity, it will surely motivate some of them, being young players, who want to become captains after retiring some of the greats of all time.
According to PTI, no one vindicates such an idea more than Abhishek Sharma and Washington Sundar do.
Washington has thrown his hat into the ring for a spin-all-rounder role following Ravindra Jadeja’s retirement from T20Is. The Tamil Nadu cricketer who registered 6 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 4.5 runs over against Zimbabwe had certain bright spots.
Now when selectors meet to decide India’s squad for upcoming white-ball tour versus Sri Lanka, Washington will command serious consideration.
Thus India now has a bowler and lower-order batsman aged just 24 years old who can play both inside and outside powerplays whenever required.
Abhishek smashed five sixes as he completed his ton off just 47 balls which was significant given that he is widely touted as India’s next great hope.
India won’t have Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma anymore going by very condensed version while Yashasvi Jaiswal should be expected to occupy one of those top-order spots without much ado about nothing.
Abhishek would therefore expect to strengthen his case for another opener spot which is being contested between Shubman Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad who are also formidable contenders themselves.
This notwithstanding, some of the known names like Shivam Dube and Sanju Samson may still not go away empty-handed from this series.
They got close to them during India’s victory parade in Mumbai after their historic run in the T20 World Cup where they didn’t play or played very little.
Hence, with two games left in this series, Dube and Samson will be hoping that by doing well there they will remain as those who will lead India into the future.
In addition to that, the management of Indian cricket would have been impressed by performances by their bowlers particularly leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi who gave no chance for home hitters to figure out his googlies.
Like Washington and pacer Avesh Khan both are also having six wickets since then in this series so far has seen along with them Bishnoi being one among them.
As much as Mukesh Kumar could probably take Avesh Khan’s place at the other end following his rest last time around, the seamer himself would surely prefer a cheaper day out despite picking up four wickets.
However, Zimbabwe has dropped a few places after beating India in the first game on the other hand.
One moment of loneliness for these players was Blessing Muzarabani’s fiery spells as well as Dion Myers’ fifty paced innings.
All these must be tamed if they are going to effectively fight against this more effective Indian force.
Teams:
India: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar and Tushar Deshpande.
ZIMBABWE: Captain – Sikandar Raza But; Players – Akram Faraz, Bennett Brian, Campbell Johnathan, Chatara Tendai, Jongwe Luke, Kaia Innocent, Madande Clive, Madhevere Wessly, Marumani Tadiwanashe, Masakadza Wellington, Mavuta Brandon, Muzarabani Blessing, Myers Dion, Naqvi Antum, Ngarava Richard and Shumba Milton.
