All posts by csb10.top

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:15

‘Surprised by the Bengaluru pitch’

First there was control, then panic and eventually wickets. Most of them went to Nathan Lyon, whose 8 for 50 was the best ever haul by a visiting bowler in India. He personified Australia’s ability to adapt to unfavourable conditions – which included a lost toss – and by the end of the day they had ransacked 10 wickets for 189 runs, put up a score of 40 for 0 themselves and did their chances of retaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy no harm whatsoever.Most teams coming to the subcontinent will be aware they have to invest heavily in maintaining tight lines and lengths for pressure is as good as any help they might receive off the pitch to pick up wickets. The batsman starts to feel trapped, doubts begin to fester, he searches for release and…India know this template well. Yet they lost Cheteshwar Pujara on the stroke of lunch. Virat Kohli gave his wicket away – and then a review as well – by padding up to a straight ball. Were it not for KL Rahul’s 90 on his home ground in Bengaluru, they would have been in far worse shape. And that is saying something considering they were bundled out for under 200 for the third time in as many innings.Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were in prime form with the new ball. Six of the first 12 overs on Saturday were maidens, the result of their getting just enough movement in the air and off the pitch. Lyon was precise with his line and smart with his length. He got the ball to turn and bounce sharply on some occasions and on others he made it drift and go straight on. His biggest strike, though, was simply down to a set up.Kohli was new to the crease and only a few seconds ago had a good length ball jumped past his inside edge and hit his thigh pad. Something told the Indian captain he could trust the bounce here, that if he was playing on the back foot, the ball was unlikely to threaten his stumps. That made picking length very, very important. Lyon flattened his trajectory, Kohli left the ball, suckered into believing it was short, it thudded into his pad in front of middle stump and umpire Nigel Llong put his finger up. While the error in judgment can be forgiven, the gamble with DRS was less so for it was driven not by logic but hope, and even a little bit of fear at losing the best batsman in the team giving Australia the kind of momentum they would love.Watching all this from the other end was Rahul. His innings spanned 205 balls – the next best was a mere 66 – was a battle all through. He was struck on the glove as Starc peppered him with bouncers. He was often unsure against Hazlewood’s two-way movement. He could have been caught on 30 but even Peter Handscomb, whose agility is already becoming legend, was unable to hold on to a rather difficult chance low to his left at silly mid-off.Nathan Lyon’s 8 for 50 was the best figures by a visiting bowler in India•Associated Press

Rahul had the mettle to work past his troubles, to not buckle to pressure and go looking for that boundary that makes him feel better for but an instant. He had had enough of that in Pune. Normally a free-flowing batsman – evidenced by his striking the first ball of the match to the point boundary – he understood the importance of a big score and buckled down to get it. With time at the crease, his defensive game grew tighter but most of all, he was able to absorb all the pressure Australia piled up on him.The same could not be said of his team-mates. Ajinkya Rahane hurtled down the pitch against Lyon only for the straighter ball to beat his outside edge. He was so far past the crease that Matthew Wade even had time to recover from a fumble and pull off the stumping. The 17 runs he made marked the ninth time out of 10 innings that he has fallen for a score under 30. Karun Nair, who was brought in to lengthen the batting line-up, playing for the first time since his 303 not out in December, committed the same mistake against O’Keefe and this time the ball turned sharply to leave him stumped too.Against the vagaries of the M Chinnaswamy strip – hosting a Test for the first time since large-scale renovations of the outfield – and the discipline of the Australian bowlers, it was difficult not to imagine India as those kids waiting for Mum and Dad to slack off so they can raid the sweets in the pantry. But by the end of the day, with no hope of their craving being satisfied, they could only fold their hands over their chest and go “this sucks”.By tea, Australia’s GOAT had gutted India’s middle order and sent back their big three. The first of his wickets was a major turning point. He had a set Pujara caught at short leg off what became the very last ball before lunch and a 61-run second wicket partnership was broken.Against a bowler in such rhythm, the lower order folded quickly. R Ashwin was undone by a spitting cobra. Wriddhiman Saha edged one that didn’t turn as much as he thought. Ravindra Jadeja inside edged a catch off the pad to slip – which was only confirmed when Smith made fine use of the review available to him. Even there, Australia were thumping India. And it all tied in to Lyon’s skill. A newfound skill.In the early part of his career, he couldn’t figure out how to bowl on turners. He would either be too slow and too full and get driven a lot, or too quick and too short leading to outcomes a lot worse. Here all of his wickets came off the 5 to 6m mark. For a batsman, that meant even if he came forward, he couldn’t reach the pitch of the ball. To then make connection, he has to push his hands out in front and that compromises his balance. Playing back is a risk too because Lyon’s overspin generates awkward bounce.Against that, the extra batsman was of little use. M Vijay, however, was not among of the XI having injured his left shoulder in the 333-run defeat in Pune and in his place came Tamil Nadu team-mate Abhinav Mukund. The 27-year old was representing India for the first time in over five years and his team was using their eighth opening pair in the last 12 months. He got an eight-ball duck, the partnership yielded only 11 runs, the position is clearly cursed, it time to call Scooby Doo yet?

The PCB has confirmed that the Pakistan Super League final will be held in Lahore on March 5* and the board is drawing up contingency plans to replace overseas players who are unwilling to travel to the country due to security concerns.The board has decided to hold a new draft in the last week of February to bring in foreign players who will be willing to travel to Pakistan in place of those who opt out. The decision was taken after several foreign players were uncertain about touring Pakistan for the final; the rest of the tournament will be played in Dubai and Sharjah beginning on February 9.”In the recent governing board meeting it was decided that the final of PSL will be held in Lahore,” a PCB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo. “PCB will try to convince players to travel to Pakistan but in the worst case scenario we will have a new draft for the players who are ready to tour Pakistan.”If no foreign players agree to play in Pakistan, the final will be played in Lahore with replacement local players.”Once the teams for the finals are decided and their icon or foreign players refuse to travel to Lahore, we will make a new draft with a pool from the existing 30-35 players of PSL,” Najam Sethi, PCB’s head of executive committee, said. “We will probably need about five to ten players for Lahore, and those players who would be available from the discarded three teams can then get picked through this draft for the final.”The PCB has taken numerous steps to plan for the final, which until last month was subject to security clearances. With all the assurances from the Punjab government and security agencies, the PCB is confident about going ahead with the plan. The board has bought four bulletproof buses in a bid to take additional security measures to help convince players and has previously spoken about making it a fly-in, fly-out arrangement for the teams.FICA, the international players’ association, however, said the advice it has received is that travelling to Pakistan is still a risk for international players. FICA’s comments came a day after Sethi initially said the final would be played in Lahore. However, an updated independent assessment is being carried out which will be a major factor in players’ decision making.Away from the PSL final, the PCB has also invited West Indies to tour Pakistan for two T20s in Lahore before flying out to play another two T20s at Lauderhill in Florida. The tour is subject to security clearances and agreement from the West Indies Players’ Association.ESPNcricinfo has learnt that Giles Clarke, the ECB president who headed up the ICC’s original Pakistan Task Force, will visit the country later this month along with officials from West Indies to conduct a recce of the venues as a part of their assessment before confirming the tour. However, the ICC said they were not involved in Clarke’s visit. “There is no formal trip planned in this regard with respect to ICC,” a spokesman said.Eddie Tolchard, an agent who represents many of West Indies’ frontline players such as Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree, and Darren Sammy among others, said “whilst there is an obvious keenness to support international cricket returning to Pakistan, we and our players will always take the advice from FICA on this matter.”We understand things are improving but we are not security experts and have not had the experience of seeing things with our own eyes, so need to be guided by people with the relevant expertise as there are reasons as to why teams have not been touring. We want to be supportive, definitely, but even now just 2 months out from the scheduled PSL final things haven’t been confirmed as being in Lahore so there are still clearly question marks at many levels. Let’s see, it will be one step at a time, and we all hope for the betterment of Pakistan cricket.”Since the attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in 2009, Zimbabwe are the only Full Member to tour Pakistan when they visited for a three-match ODI series in 2015.*Monday, January 9. The copy was updated to reflect the rescheduled date of the final as announced by the PCB on Monday

Steven Smith, Australia’s captain, praised Travis Head for taking his opportunity at No. 6 in Australia’s 68-run victory over New Zealand in the first match of the Chappell-Hadlee series. Smith said the decision to prefer Head in the middle order had nothing to do with Glenn Maxwell’s comments about team-mate Matthew Wade ahead of the match, describing Head’s batting as “beautiful” after the two put on a century stand to revive Australia from 92 for 4 in Sydney.Head made 52, his highest international score and second half-century in 13 ODIs, to help set up the Australia innings, while Smith went on to record 164 – a record at the SCG – as New Zealand conceded a total that proved to be well out of their reach, despite a fighting hundred from Martin Guptill.”It was more about giving Travis another opportunity, he played well last week, scored a hundred in Shield cricket so he’s in good nick,” Smith said of the decision to pick Head ahead of Maxwell. “I guess it was about giving him an opportunity first and obviously he played pretty well, so he’s taken that opportunity.”Asked about the relationship between the two Victorians, after Maxwell’s criticism of Wade, Smith said: “I think they’re okay. I made some comments in here the other day about him, the comments that he made were disappointing and disrespectful towards Matty and I think we’ve moved on from that now and it’s about focusing on this series. It was great for us to get a win tonight and hopefully we can play some more good cricket in the nation’s capital.”Maxwell has not played an ODI since the tri-series with West Indies and South Africa in June, during which Head made his debut. Since then, Head has made a number of handy starts – only twice failing to reach double-figures – but he needed some luck in Sydney, with Matt Henry fluffing a simple catch when he had 7.”When he came out to bat, we were just communicating, saying that we’d try and get through to about 40 overs and then we’d have a bit of a crack at them,” Smith said. “We were able to still play quit positively through that period and score five an over, so we set ourselves up nicely with that partnership and I thought the way he played was beautiful, he obviously got dropped that one at mid-off, but besides that I think he played some really good cricket. And it was nice to see Matthew Wade come in at the end and play a good little cameo as well.”It looks like [Head’s] improving every game, he’s in good form, coming off the back of a hundred last week in the Shield, so he’s playing some good cricket and I’m sure he’s going to continue to improve.”Smith chose not to dwell on his own innings, calling it “pleasing” and saying he preferred the century he made at the SCG during the 2015 World Cup semi-final. He was also grateful for the indecision among the New Zealand ranks after Trent Boult appealed for an lbw when Smith had made 14 – Kane Williamson chose not to review, possibly on the suggestion of a team-mate that there was bat involved, only for Hawk-Eye to show it would have been overturned on DRS.”I was pretty glad they didn’t review it. I think it was out, so yeah, of course I’m glad,” Smith said. “But not much was really going through my head, I let it go pretty quickly and moved on. Thought he set me up pretty well, actually, Boult wasn’t swinging any so I was moving across even further and then he got one to come back quite late. So set me up pretty well and fortunately it got given not out, and unfortunate for NZ that it was.”I think someone said that I’d hit it, from point, I reckon I heard someone say that I’d hit it, and I think they ran with that. I may have looked at my bat at one point as well, to throw them.”

Trent Boult and Tim Southee may be the spearheads of the attack, but on Saturday, it was Neil Wagner who first rattled Pakistan, and in so doing, beat his more illustrious team-mates to a milestone.Babar Azam and Azhar Ali had settled into a partnership, when Wagner began to direct balls at their ribs. One of those caught Azam’s gloves and sailed through to the wicketkeeper, and gave Wagner his 100th wicket in his 25th Test. Boult and Southee had both needed 29 matches to rack up triple figures.”I don’t think in my wildest dreams I’d thought about getting 100 wickets,” said Wagner. “I’m pretty pleased. Whichever way I can play a part for the team and deliver in a role, I’m happy. Whichever way it goes I want to keep contributing.”Wagner was the second-fastest New Zealand bowler to the milestone, behind Richard Hadlee, who had achieved the feat in 24 games. “I’m more than happy for Sir Richard Hadlee to keep that record, because he’s an absolute legend,” Wagner said. “I’m stoked to get to 100, but there’s still a long way to go.”The dismissal of Azam had in fact been the first of a bouncer double-strike, which also accounted for the wicket of Younis Khan. Wagner had a short ball leap at Younis’ throat early in his innings, and the batsman could do nothing more than attempt to fend it away. The ball collected the glove en route to the wicketkeeper.”That’s just my job to do something different,” Wagner said. “We know how it works out here – today there was a bit of wind, and that stops the ball from swinging. When conditions start getting a little easier to bat on, I’ve got to try and make something happen. It doesn’t always happen, but luckily today was one of those days when it paid off. I think we had to work long periods of time to get that success, and we did.”In between wickets New Zealand were relentlessly disciplined, with each of the quicks bowling a very high percentage of dot balls. Of the 66 overs bowled in Pakistan’s second innings, 25 were maidens – the visitors’ run rate a mere 1.95. A late flurry of wickets also meant Pakistan were left seven down, with a lead of only 62.”I thought we bowled exceptionally well in partnerships,” Wagner said. “It was some quality fast bowling. We created pressure for long periods of time and got rewards for it towards the end.”Boult had the innings’ best figures of 3 for 18 at stumps, though Southee had bowled the highest percentage of maidens, delivering 10 scoreless overs out of 19 in total. Wagner said the opening pair had set the tone.”The way Tim and Trent opened the bowling – they are two of the best bowlers going around when they bowl like that. They’re just absolute class. Seeing them go about the work they did and pressure they built – I think at the start they were going at one run an over – it just shows the class of those two bowlers.”

Yorkshire’s allrounder David Willey will rejoin the England ODI squad later this week after an injury to his left hand was found to be less serious than first feared.Willey was struck on the hand in his follow through by a fierce drive from Durham’s Mark Stoneman while bowling in Yorkshire’s NatWest T20 Blast semi-final on Saturday. He continued to play a full part in the game, finishing his overs and opening the batting with his hand tightly strapped, but was initially ruled out of the one-day series against Pakistan after scans on Sunday.However, it has now been confirmed that Willey only suffered bruising, rather than any kind of break, and he will link up with the England squad after Wednesday’s first ODI at the Ageas Bowl.An England spokesman said: “On further review today, David Willey has been cleared of a fracture to his left hand and he will rejoin England’s ODI squad on Thursday. His progress will be monitored by the medical team during the series.”Willey had tweeted on Sunday evening that he still hoped to play a part in the series and he followed that up with a picture of the bruising on Monday, adding: “Good news! No serious damage so I’ll be back as soon as the swelling goes!”Willey’s commitment to the cause was not enough to get Yorkshire through to the NatWest Blast final but England will doubtless be happy to have him available, as well as relieved that his fighting spirit did not result in greater damage. Jake Ball, who was called up as cover, will remain with the squad.England also have a slight concern over the fitness of Stuart Broad, who also played on Finals Day but is not part of the limited-overs squads. Broad will undergo a scan on his left ankle on Tuesday and has been withdrawn from Nottinghamshire’s Championship squad for their match against Yorkshire at Scarborough.Alastair Cook, England’s Test captain, has meanwhile been made available to play in Essex’s next two Championship matches, against Leicestershire and Worcestershire.

New Zealand coach Mike Hesson has said that bowling Zimbabwe out twice on what is expected to be a slow and low Bulawayo surface will be a challenge ahead of his side’s two-Test tour. Hesson stated that both batsmen and bowlers would have to show patience to get the better of the home team.”In Bulawayo, we are expecting something that’s going to be slow and not a heck of a lot of bounce, so taking 20 wickets will be a challenge,” Hesson said after the team’s arrival in Harare, where they are currently playing a three-day warm-up match before heading to Bulawayo. “Zimbabwe’s bowling attack is very disciplined, so from a batting point of view, it’s about committing to your plans over a long period of time.”With little assistance for seamers and spinners, and scoring rates likely to be curbed as well, frustration may prove to be the most effective wicket-taker in the series. But New Zealand have several other options – an attack that will be led by Tim Southee and Doug Bracewell, has Neil Wagner and Matt Henry backing up, and includes spin options as well. With an offspinner in Mark Craig and two legspinners in their arsenal – Ish Sodhi and the uncapped Jeet Raval – New Zealand will aim to exploit Zimbabwe’s vulnerability against turn, as they did when the two sides met five years ago.That match, which New Zealand won by 34 runs, saw them field two spinners – Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel – and Vettori claimed eight wickets. Hesson remembers the fixture more for Zimbabwe’s fight than Vettori’s Man-of-the-Match-winning performance, and expects the same from them this time. “The last time we played a Test match in Bulawayo, it went down to the last session on the last day, so we are certainly expecting a tough series,” Hesson said.However, things may not pan out as Hesson expects, as since that day, New Zealand have played 43 Tests and won 14, including series wins over West Indies, India and Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, have played just 11 Tests, won two and have not been back to Bulawayo at all. While they will still be more familiar with the conditions, Zimbabwe do not have the kind of home advantage that teams who play more regularly hold.In fact, given that New Zealand have been at a training camp in Pretoria for the last 10 days, the tourists may feel fairly well-versed in southern African winter conditions. “We trained at the Tuks University and it was a good chance for us to get used to conditions that we are likely to face here,” Hesson said.Zimbabwe’s ace could be the element of surprise in their personnel. Only four in their current squad played in the 2011 Test against New Zealand: Tino Mawoyo, Hamilton Masakadza, Regis Chakabva and Njabulo Ncube. A further four – Prince Masvaure, Chamu Chibhabha, Peter Moor and Taurai Muzarabani – are uncapped at the Test level. New Zealand will not be able to do any homework on the rookies because they have not been included in the warm-up match either, and will have to rely on their ability to react to the competition they are faced with on game day.That, and a stubborn surface, has prompted Hesson to urge his charges not to take Zimbabwe lightly as they open their African adventure. “Some of the Zimbabwe players we don’t know very well, we don’t have a lot of footage of them, so we are going to have to deal with that when we arrive. But we certainly won’t be underestimating Zimbabwe in their own conditions.”

ScorecardJason Roy gave Surrey a flying start with 36 from 25 balls•Getty Images

Surrey kept their hopes of reaching the last eight of the NatWest T20 Blast alive with a comfortable six-wicket win over Sussex Sharks in front of a 22,601 crowd at The Kia Oval.Having restricted Sussex to 153 for 6 on a slow pitch, Surrey paced their response perfectly and won the game with ten balls to spare when Chris Morris swung Mustafizur Rahman over midwicket for six.It was Surrey’s sixth win in the ultra-competitive South Group and they join Sussex on 12 points, but the Sharks only have one game left – at home to second-placed Glamorgan next Wednesday – and their chances of making the quarter-finals appear remote.Surrey had been given a strong start by England opener Jason Roy, who made 36 off 25 balls, hitting six fours and a six.Roy looked in the mood but was becalmed by slow left-armer Danny Briggs who came on in the powerplay and bowled Roy in his second over as the batsman slogged across the line. A clearly frustrated Roy angrily swished his bat at the stumps as he departed, an act which may earn him a rebuke from umpires David Millns and Alex Wharf.Roy’s opening partner Aaron Finch had gone in the third over, caught at backward point off a huge top-edge to give Jofra Archer, the Barbados-born fast bowler playing only his third game in the competition, the first of two wickets.But Dominic Sibley and Rory Burns were determined not to squander Surrey’s good start. The third-wicket pair added 42 in 27 balls and although Burns (13) was superbly caught at long leg by the diving Rahman, Sibley made a composed 40 off 31 deliveries with three sixes and a four to put his side in control.He was athletically caught by Sussex captain Luke Wright at extra cover in the 15th over, but Surrey required just 38 runs at that stage and Morris (20) and Ben Foakes (22) eased them to their sixth win of the group stage.Sussex, who had been put in, were 15-20 runs short in the end. With four overs to go they were 135 for 3 but Jade Dernbach and Tom Curran bowled superbly at the death, taking three wickets as Sussex cobbled together just 18 more runs.Craig Cachopa and Matt Machan had put on 51 in 31 balls for the fourth wicket but they fell off successive Dernbach deliveries in the 19th over. Machan (18) top-edged a pull and Cachopa was held at long on for 45 (34 balls, 7 fours) while Chris Jordan gave Curran a deserved wicket when he holed out to deep mid-wicket in the final over.Sussex were without fast bowler Tymal Mills because of ankle trouble and their leading scorer in this season’s Blast Ross Taylor, who has joined up with New Zealand for their tour of South Africa.In Taylor’s absence they needed experienced openers Chris Nash and Wright to perform and although Nash played well for his 39 from 34 balls, Sussex captain Wright was out for just 7.Surrey’s seamers showed good control with Dernbach taking 2 for 25, Morris 2 for 21 and Tom Curran 1 for 20.

Match facts

Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Start time 0900 local (0700 GMT)1:03

Can Zimbabwe stop series whitewash in Harare?

Big picture

Over the last two years and a bit, India’s ODI top three has been among the best in the world. They have had issues, however, with Nos. 4, 5 and 6. Addressing those issues must have been among the selectors’ primary concerns when they picked a largely experimental squad to tour Zimbabwe. Two-thirds of the way into the ODI series, India’s Nos. 4, 5 and 6 have faced one ball between them. One ball.Two matches down, the series already won, India have barely been tested. Their bowlers have enjoyed the conditions, which have offered a bit of swing and seam for the quicks and a bit of grip for the spinners, and have racked up sensational numbers. Of the five bowlers India have used, only Axar Patel (24.00) averages more than 20 in this series. But perhaps they have had it all too easy. No meaningful partnerships to stretch their patience or skillsets, no withering attack to quell, not one batsman building an innings and refusing to give his wicket away.The batsmen, needless to say, have had it even easier: they had to chase 169 in the first ODI and 127 in the second.Zimbabwe aren’t a great side. This was known even before the series began. But they are better than their displays so far suggest. It will be in both sides’ interests if they actually show up on Wednesday, and play to their potential. The series cries out for a big top-order partnership from Zimbabwe, for a burst of wickets from their bowlers, for the crackling contest that isn’t beyond them.

Form guide

Zimbabwe: LLLWW (last five matches, most recent first)
India: WWWLL

In the spotlight

It isn’t his fault that he has bowled with woefully inadequate totals to defend, and, given those circumstances, Tendai Chatara has actually bowled pretty well so far. His pace isn’t yet up to the level it was at before he broke his shin last year, but he has hit the deck, straightened a few past the edge, picked up Zimbabwe’s only wicket in the first ODI and could have had one in the second game too, had he not overstepped. He will hope Zimbabwe either bowl first or put decent total on the board on Wednesday, giving him a chance to apply some sort of pressure on India’s batsmen.Kedar Jadhav scored an unbeaten 105 the last time he batted in an ODI. That was in July 2015. Since then, he has lost his place to more established names and come back for this series only to notch up DNBs in the first two matches. He will hope India bat first, or that they get a decent target to chase, or that he gets a major promotion up the order.

Team news

Craig Ervine injured his hamstring before the second ODI, and Sean Williams, who replaced him, injured his finger soon after the toss and was unable to bat. It is unclear if either will be available on Wednesday. Timycen Maruma could get a look-in if both are ruled out. Zimbabwe already have a lengthy batting line-up, though, and might be tempted instead to pick an extra bowler – either a seamer in Donald Tiripano or Tawanda Mupariwa, or a spinner in Wellington Masakadza or Tendai Chisoro.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Peter Moor, 4 Vusi Sibanda, 5 Sean Williams/Craig Ervine/Timycen Maruma, 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Richmond Mutumbami (wk), 9 Graeme Cremer (capt), 10 Tendai Chatara, 11 Taurai MuzarabaniIndia played the same XI in the first two games and, given the lack of batting time for their middle order, could shuffle the top six. MS Dhoni hinted after the second ODI that India might rest one of their bowlers, and that could mean Jaydev Unadkat, Rishi Dhawan or Jayant Yadav gets a look-in.India (probable): 1 KL Rahul/Mandeep Singh, 2 & 3 Karun Nair/Ambati Rayudu/Faiz Fazal, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Axar Patel/Jayant Yadav, 8 Dhawal Kulkarni, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Jasprit Bumrah/Rishi Dhawan, 11 Barinder Sran/Jaydev Unadkat

Pitch and conditions

Chilly weather is likely to continue on Wednesday, with a high in the low 20s, though no rain is forecast. The early morning start will tempt both teams to bowl first and utilise the swing on offer, but India might look to bat first and challenge both their batsmen and bowlers.

Stats and trivia

• MS Dhoni is one short of 350 ODI dismissals. He currently has 260 catches and 89 stumpings from 277 matches.
• One stat to sum up the series so far: India’s batsmen average 100.66 per wicket. Zimbabwe’s average 15.47.

Quotes

“They put a fielder there. If there’s a fielder, hit it down, get the single. We didn’t do that.”