India has included Sanju Samson in the playing XI in place of Rinku Singh
India and Zimbabwe will face each other in a must-win clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Both teams are in search of their first win in the Super Eight leg of the competition, having lost their first match by a big margin, respectively.
If we talk about how the two teams have performed so far in the ongoing edition, India were unbeaten in the group stage and got the better of USA, followed by Namibia, Pakistan and the Netherlands.
The Men in Blue were looking like the team to beat till they met South Africa in their first Super Eight match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. South Africa halted the Indian juggernaut in ICC white-ball tournaments with a comprehensive 76-run win and dented the team’s net run rate in the process.
However, the same team has helped the defending champions by beating West Indies in the first match of the day and made things easy for India as they just have to win the game against Zimbabwe and not worry about the net run rate.
Zimbabwe, on the other hand, stunned everyone by topping their group in the first round but were beaten by a big margin by West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and will now have to win the match against India to keep their hopes of making it to the top four alive.
Read More
Captains’ Speak
Zimbabwe’s captain Sikandar Raza decided to bowl first after winning the toss as he felt that the wicket wasn’t a typical Chennai wicket and would have something in it for the bowlers with the new ball, and the Zimbabwean bowlers will look to make the most of it by picking up wickets in the first six overs.
Suryakumar Yadav, captain of India, said that they were looking to bat first anyway. Talking about the mood in the dressing room, Suryakumar said that the boys are relaxed and ready for the game. When asked about what they need to do better in this game as compared to the last one, Suryakumar said they need to learn and forget what happened in the last game and play in the same way they have been playing in the last year or so.
Do Follow Sports Digest on X: https://x.com/SportsDigestINT
Playing XI
India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Zimbabwe: Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Brian Bennett, Dion Myers, Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza (c), Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Tinotenda Maposa, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava
How Will the Pitch Behave
The Pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is expected to be good for batting while having something in it for the bowlers, especially the pacers, given that they pitch the ball in the right areas.
Also Read: T20 World Cup: All About Pakistan and New Zealand’s Chances of Qualifying for the Top Four
