India look to redeem pride

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After the humiliation they suffered in the ODI tri-series, India will look to make amends and take revenge against giant-slayers Zimbabwe in the first of the two T20 Internationals here on Saturday

Here with a second-string team, India were dumped out of the tri-series after suffering back-to-back defeats against the spirited Zimbabweans. The host team, which lost the tri-series final to Sri Lanka, would be plotting another shocker for the Indians at the Harare Sports Club.
The break that followed their tri-series ouster has given Suresh Raina’s men enough time to chalk out their plans to avoid another stunner from Elton Chigumbura’s fighting side. The key to India’s success will be batting and the line-up is desperately missing the heavyweights, who were rested from the series. The opening pair of Dinesh Karthik and M Vijay couldn’t make an impact in the ODI series failing to score any memorable knock.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Raina himself are the men in form and would look to continue their run in the two Twenty20s.
A lot would be expected from Twenty20 specialist Yusuf Pathan, who would be aiming to prove his worth after being dropped from the ODI squad for the upcoming Asia Cup.
On the bowling front, the Indian spin attack would be bolstered by the arrival of Piyush Chawla, as Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha have not made a mark so far on the tour. The pace department is not too impressive either with the Ashok Dindas and Umesh Yadavs conceding too many runs.
Zimbabwe, on the other hand, are high on morale despite the tri-series final loss to Sri Lanka. The team has shown the stomach for a fight and are capable of pulling upsets, as they showed in the few warm-up games before the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.
Their batsmen showed decent form in the ODIs and would be looking to be slightly more aggressive in the shortest format of the game. — PTI