Top-order stability will be one of the areas to address when India women take on Zimbabwe in the second of the three T20Is on Sunday at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur. A win in the second game will help Smriti Mandhana win his first series as a full-time Indian skipper. took over earlier this month.
The Women in Blue survived a major scare in the series opener, with four wickets down with just 19 runs on the board. However, it was a match-winning 82-run partnership between debutant Niki Prasad and seasoned all-rounder that led India to a four-wicket victory.
The Indian batters were guilty of throwing their wickets away, with off-spinner Nyasha Gwanzura striking thrice in the powerplay. The hosts will be keen to avoid a repeat of the early collapse, with the top four — captain Mandhana, , Anushka Sharma and former skipper — all falling for single-digit scores.
Mandhana, who took over the captaincy at the start of the series, will also be keen to lead from the front. Niki, meanwhile, made an impressive start to her senior international career, showing composure and sound stroke-play under pressure.
As far as India’s bowling is concerned, it did a reasonable job to restrict Zimbabwe to 114/5, although the visitors will draw confidence from the contributions of opener Kelis Ndhlovu and Sharne Mayers. Zimbabwe will also hope Gwanzura can build on her impressive three-wicket haul, which exposed India’s vulnerability against spin during the powerplay.
The wicket in Raipur was good to bat on with a few cracks spotted. The batters can play their shots confidently and the surface looked hard. The ball came onto the bat in the first game and the same is expected in the second encounter too. Dew will certainly play a factor.
Star Sports Network is the official broadcaster of the India vs Zimbabwe women’s T20Is. The India women vs Zimbabwe women 2nd T20I will be telecast live on Star Sports Hindi and English SD and HD channels. Live streaming of India women vs Zimbabwe women 2nd T20I will be available on JioStar app and website.
India’s first T20I against Zimbabwe in Raipur was the first time both the nations met on the cricket field in women’s cricket in the shortest format. India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets.
India: Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma, Anushka Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Niki Prasad, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Sree Charani, Nandani Sharma, Kranti Gaud.
Zimbabwe: Kelis Ndhlovu, Beloved Biza, Modester Mupachikwa (wk), Sharne Mayers, Michelle Mavunga, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, Nyasha Gwanzura, Francisca Chipare, Olinder Chare, Josephine Nkomo (c), Tendai Makusha.
