After taking an unassailable 2-0 lead against Zimbabwe, Team India will be hoping for a whitewash in the third and final one-dayer at Harare on Tuesday.
But there was some bad news for the Indian fans earlier in the day, when in-form Ambati Rayudu was ruled out of the tour after picking up a quadricep injury which would require 2-3 weeks of rehabilitation. He was replaced by Sanju Samson in the squad.
Second string India side scraped past Zimbabwe in the first ODI, bettered their performance in the second ODI with a 62-run win and will be hoping to continue the good form in the third and the final ODI.
After a horror show by the top order in the first ODI, the batsmen made a good comeback on Sunday and played sensibly. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane (63), opener Murali Vijay (72) and Ambati Rayudu laid the foundation for the visitors that took them to a challenging score. Rayudu’s absence will hurt India as he was the man in-form with a century in the first ODI and a solid 41 in the second one. Manish Pandey could be the one making his ODI debut on Tuesday as Samson is unlikely to reach on time. Pandey has good domestic and IPL experience under his belt and will be looking to impress the selectors on his debut.
On the other hand, the bowlers have performed very well in both the games especially the pacers. Although they were forced to work hard in the first game, thanks to Elton Chigambura’s ton but they came back strongly to exploit the conditions well by making good use of the new ball.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers in the second ODI as he scalped four and offspinner Harbhajan Singh has also bowled with a lot of discipline in the two ODIs. Stuart Binny made a useful contribution with both bat and ball and will love to continue his form in the final ODI as well.
