Zimbabwe’s captain, Josephine Nkomo, won the toss and chose to bat first in the second T20I against India, held in Raipur. Both teams have kept their line-ups unchanged from their last match two days ago.
The Raipur pitch is anticipated to play similarly to the first T20I: slow with a bit of grip. In that opening match, India stumbled to 19 for 4 in their pursuit of 115, later revived by an 82-run stand between Deepti Sharma and newcomer Niki Prasad. Prasad retains her position for this game.
“We’ll try to rotate the strike more,” Nkomo commented when questioned on their decision to bat first. During the previous match – marking their first bilateral series against India in women’s internationals – Zimbabwe failed to effectively rotate the strike, ending on 114 for 5 despite a promising beginning during the powerplay.
On the Indian side, this series sees Smriti Mandhana taking on the role of full-time captain. Reflecting on the last game, she said, “As a team, we didn’t have a convincing chase last time, so we’ll try to get better this time.”
Team line-ups are as follows:
India: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Shafali Verma, Anushka Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Niki Prasad, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, N Shree Charani, Nandani Sharma, Kranti Gaud.
Zimbabwe: Kelis Ndhlovu, Beloved Biza, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, Josephine Nkomo (captain), Sharne Mayers, Modester Mupachikwa (wicketkeeper), Michelle Mavunga, Francisca Chipare, Tendai Makusha, Olinder Chare, Loryn Phiri.
Anticipation builds as the two sides are set to face off once again, each hoping to improve upon their performances from the last match.
