Harare: An expectedly comfortable win to start with, the young Indian team under Virat Kohli would look to continue asserting its supremacy over minnows Zimbabwe when the two sides clash in the second One-Dayer of the ongoing five-match series, today.
In a perfect start to the tour, India thrashed Zimbabwe by six wickets with Kohli leading from the front, scoring a hundred. But the win was not without a few glitches with the inexperience of Indian bowlers exploited by a couple of Zimbabwean batsmen.
Sikander Raza nearly got a hundred while lower down the order Elton Chigumbura managed to torment the Indians for quite a while with a 34-ball 43 which included half a dozen boundaries.
In fact, India’s lead pacer R Vinay Kumar ended up conceding at a rate more than six in his nine overs. But on the brighter side, the rest of the attack made up for his off day with spinner Amit Mishra picking up three wickets in his 10 overs.
The Zimbabwean batsmen did not exactly disgrace themselves and posted a decent total which was, however, no match to the sheer individual brilliance of Kohli.
Among others, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan had a bad day but they too should get some big scores in the series which has been described as being terribly lopsided despite India being a depleted team. Another positive to emerge for India apart from Kohli’s swashbuckling knock, was the half-century by debutant Ambati Rayudu.
A veteran of first-class cricket, Rayudu finally got his ODI break yesterday and delivered well with a calculated 63-run knock. If he can continue in the same vein in the coming games, the 27-year-old’s confidence would certainly head northwards.
It would be interesting to see whether the Indians stick to the same line-up or try out the likes of batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and spinner Parveez Rasool. For the Zimbabweans, Raza and Chigumbura showed that application and patience can make the home team a lot more competitive than many would perceive it to be.
The home team played its full 50 overs, was not all out at the end of it all and did expose some chinks in the Indian bowling attack’s armoury. But their own bowling left a lot to be desired although it is difficult to control an on-song Kohli even for the best of attacks.
Prosper Utseya was the lone bowler to make an impact with two wickets in his 10 overs. With a better understanding of conditions, the Zimbabwean bowlers would be expected to produce a better effort, the one in which they at least manage to create some unease for the Indians.
India retain 3rd spot in ICC T20 Rankings
Dubai: India held on to their third spot after the annual update of the ICC Twenty20 Rankings was announced Thursday. Sri Lanka have retained their position as the number one ranked team in the list. The annual update was released just two days before Pakistan take on defending ICC World Twenty20 champions West Indies in a two-match series, in Kingstown, St Vincent. At the June ICC Board meeting during the Annual Conference week in London, the ICC Board agreed to change the T20I rankings period from 3 years to 4 years.
The ICC Board also decided that the annual update to the Test, ODI and T20I rankings should now take place on May 1, rather than August 1, to better align with the current international calendar. This change has been incorporated in the latest update, and has been backdated to May 1, 2013. The updated table now reflects all T20I matches completed after August 1, 2010. All T20I matches played until the start of May 2014 will be added to this table.
There are no ranking changes as a result of this annual update and most countries’ ratings change by no more than a point or two. 14 out of the 16 countries with T20I status are ranked, with Afghanistan and Canada yet to play the required eight rated matches. Afghanistan need to play one more and Canada two more prior to May 2014 in order to join the rankings.
Meanwhile, Pakistan have an opportunity to move to the second place in the ICC T20I rankings table if they win both the matches against West Indies in the upcoming series. Fourth-ranked Pakistan are currently on 118 ratings points, but could potentially move up to second place with 124 ratings points, thereby swapping places with second-placed West Indies with 120 ratings points.On the other hand, if West Indies win both the matches they could gain five ratings points to finish at 132, reducing the gap with number-one ranked Sri Lanka to just two ratings points.
Teams
India: Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Parveez Rasool, Shami Ahmed, R Vinay Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohit Sharma.
Zimbabwe: Brendan Taylor (C & Wk), Sikandar Raza, Tendai Chatara, Michael Chinouya, Elton Chigumbura, Graeme Cremer, Kyle Jarvis, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza, Natsai M’shangwe, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Prosper Utseya, Brian Vitori, Malcolm Waller, Sean Williams.
Match starts: 12.30 pm
