Harare, July 26 (IANS) India have included pacer Ashok Sharma and seam-bowling all-rounder Suryansh Shedge as skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bat first in the third and final T20I against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday.
India have already claimed a 2-0 unassailable lead in the three-game series with a 90-run win on Saturday and another victory on Sunday will help them get a 3-0 series sweep. After winning the toss, Iyer said pacer Prince Yadav is out due to a left hamstring injury picked on Saturday, so Ashok comes in, while Shedge replaces Shivam Dube.
“We’re going to bat first considering that we are playing on the same wicket and anticipating for it to get slower and slower. Certainly, we got 220 on the board and we got a phenomenal start the way boys played. It’s just, you know, coming today in the morning and reflecting back on those performances give me thrills, and obviously I want to replicate the same performance again.
“It’s going to be important for us to adapt as quickly as possible. Can’t guarantee how the wicket is going to play. Is it going to be similar to yesterday or not? But as we adapt quickly, the better for us, and then we’ll try to put a great score on the board,” he said.
Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza said Richard Ngarava misses out with a niggle, with Wellington Masakadza replacing him. “We wanted to bat first as well. The team is lacking in slightly more runs from the captain. Hopefully myself and the team have a good outing,” he said.
Playing XIs
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Ben Curran, Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza (captain), Ryan Burl, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Brad Evans, Newman Nyamhuri, Wellington Masakadza, and Blessing Muzarabani
India: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Ravi Bishnoi, Ashok Sharma, Yash Thakur, and Mayank Yadav
–IANS
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