Zimbabwe v India: Second ODI preview

bet365 News Team Published: 19 Aug 22 17:14

India thrashed Zimbabwe by ten wickets in the first ODI in Harare and the hosts will be hoping to put up more of a fight in Saturday's second game.

Despite resting several first-team regulars for this tour, India still have a formidable one-day squad and they are hot favourites to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

What:	Zimbabwe v India, 2nd ODI
Where:	Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe
When:	08:15, Saturday 20th August 2022
How to watch:	Sports Live Streaming
Odds:	Zimbabwe 12/1 - India 1/25

India aiming to follow up dominant win in series opener

The match betting for the second ODI reflects the gulf in class between these teams as India are 1/25 for victory at the Harare Sports Club while Zimbabwe are 12/1 to level the series at 1-1 and set up a decider on Monday.

There was no disguising India's superiority in the first ODI on Thursday when Deepak Chahar's early burst reduced Zimbabwe to 31-4 and they needed a 70-run partnership for the ninth wicket between Brad Evans (33 not out) and Richard Ngarava (34) to haul them to a total of 189.

That target never looked like troubling India, but Zimbabwe will still have been disappointed with the margin of defeat, as openers Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill shared an unbroken stand of 192 to seal a ten-wicket win with 19.1 overs to spare.

Gill was by far the more fluent of the two, scoring 82 not out off 72 balls to pip veteran Dhawan (81 not out off 113 deliveries) to top-batter honours and he is 12/5 to be India's top runscorer again.

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Mohammad Shami have all been rested for this series so KL Rahul, 4/1 to be top batter, is captaining India.

Rahul's only previous ODI series in Zimbabwe, in 2016, yielded scores of 100 not out, 33 and 63 not out, but he was opening the batting on that tour and is expected to come in at number four in the second ODI.

Along with talented batters Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and Deepak Hooda, he was not required to bat in the first game and, unless Zimbabwe sharpen up their new-ball bowling, his time at the crease could be limited again.

While India's openers piled up the runs in the first ODI, Zimbabwe's top-order problems continued. They did manage to post their highest opening partnership in seven home one-day internationals this year but it was only 25 and 13 of those runs were extras.

Zimbabwe are 1/1 to have an opening stand of over 17.5 while India's first-wicket runs line is set at 39.5.

The quality of India's opening bowlers means 20-year-old home opener Tadiwanashe Marumani is set for another tough examination. He is 5/6 to score over 15.5 runs but he has managed that in only one of his first six one-day internationals.

Middle-order men hold key to Zimbabwe hopes

Zimbabwe started the year with a 2-1 ODI series defeat in Sri Lanka and they beat Bangladesh by the same scoreline in Harare earlier this month.

They claimed a couple of excellent five-wicket wins over the Tigers, chasing down targets of 304 and 291 thanks to back-to-back unbeaten centuries from 36-year-old Sikandar Raza.

As they discovered in Thursday's game, however, India's quick bowlers are a cut above the Bangladesh attack and they may need some more heroics from middle-order veteran Raza, who is 10/3 to be their top batter in the second ODI.

He made only 12 in the first game, in which captain and wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva top-scored with 35. The number six played some fine shots early in his innings before being bowled by spinner Axar Patel, but he scored a 73-ball century in the second of Zimbabwe's victories over Bangladesh and could be worth a top-batter bet at 11/2.

India's Chahar could come out swinging again

India are expected to name an unchanged 11 so Chahar, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna will lead the pace attack in conditions that should suit the quicker bowlers.

Left-arm spinner Patel finished with 3-24 on Thursday, dismissing numbers six, eight and 11 in the Zimbabwe batting order, but Chahar's use of the new ball really caught the eye.

He claimed three wickets in a seven-over spell, causing problems with his in-swinging yorkers and finding movement off the pitch, and he could be worth a bet at 3/1 to be India's top bowler on Saturday.

Chahar, who once recorded bowling figures of 6-7 in a Twenty20 international against Bangladesh, was named player of the match in the first ODI and is 10/1 to claim the award again although India's opening batsmen Dhawan 5/1 and Gill 11/2 dominate that market.