Back to winning ways after an opening match shock, a confident India will be gunning for revenge when they take on hosts Zimbabwe for the second time in the ongoing tri-series here on Thursday.
Zimbabwe played spoilsport in Suresh Raina’s captaincy debut inflicting a stunning six-wicket defeat on India in the opener in Bulawayo, but the visitors got their act together and thumped Sri Lanka in their second outing.
At the halfway stage, all three teams have a win and a loss each. With victory at the Harare Sports Club India could have one foot in the June 9 final.
For India, the batting has been the biggest strength as they posted 285 in the first match and chased down 242 with consummate ease in the second encounter with 6.3 overs to spare.
Batting mainstay Rohit Sharma is in the form of his life and has slammed back-to-back centuries to anchor the innings in both matches. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and vice-captain Virat Kohli have also sizzled with the bat. The lone blot in the batting department has been the form of the openers. Both Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay have not been able to provide the kind of starts that India are used to when Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir open the innings.
Southpaw Raina has looked in good nick in both the matches but the skipper has not been able to convert his starts into a big score.
In the opening match India’s inexperienced pacers let them down. But against Sri Lanka, the young guns turned in an improved performance with Ashok Dinda and Umesh Yadav giving a good account of themselves.
The spinners have done a decent job with Amit Mishra and Ojha doing well and Jadeja chipping in.
Zimbabwe will require another extraordinary performance to add to their points tally. After an high-flying start to the tournament they were brought down to earth by Sri Lanka, who skittled out the hosts for a paltry 118 in 24.5 overs in a rain-curtained match.
— PTI