Harare, July 13: As India take on hosts Zimbabwe in the fourth T20 International, here on Saturday, the first concern of Shubman Gill's young side will be to win the series prior to the final game.
India lead the five- T20I series 2-1, with convincing victories in the last two matches. The tour opener of course, was a shocking defeat. But the visitors did regroup well and made a stunning come back to lead the series with two games in hand.
If Gill & Co can win the fourth match on Saturday, they can provide opportunity to few youngsters, who are eagerly waiting for their chances.
Though Indian spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sunder have been impressive in the series so far and pacer Avesh Khan looked good too, but the team selection is still a bother.
In the third T20I, India relied on Abhishek Sharma and Shivam Dube to fill in the fifth bowler option. But they were both expensive. Those four overs were capitalised by Zimbabwe batters with 50 odd runs. That is something the Indian think-tank led by stand-in Head Coach VVS Laxman have to address.
India seem to be overloaded with too many top order batters. Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad- all four being openers, the regular No 3 or 4 batter Sanju Samson had to bat at No 5 in third T20I.
The long Indian top order also did not allow Rinku Singh, the finisher to flourish as he did not get enough balls to flourish.
The third T20I was in fact, the first game for Yaiswal and Samson, who joined the squad late.
As far as the challenges before the hosts, Zimbabwe though dominated the first game, but they usually struggle against Indian spinners.
But Zimbabwe spinner Blessing Muzarabani too appeared a very skilful and sharp. He could deceive and test the Indians with his guile, turn, flight and accuracy.
