IND vs ZIM Playing 11 Probable: India Playing 11 1st ODI vs Zimbabwe Harare Sports Club

IND vs ZIM Playing 11: India are expected to make a minimum of three changes to their Playing XI for their next match.

Having last played an ODI around three weeks ago, India are expected to make a minimum of three changes to their Playing XI for the first ODI against Zimbabwe on Thursday.

With three of the total five changes made to their 16-member squad for the tour of Zimbabwe part of the Playing XI in Port of Spain, the visitors will have no option than to replace them in Harare.

Named captain despite not being in the original 15-member squad, KL Rahul is a sure-starter. That said, Rahul’s batting position will require some pondering. Rahul, who has played only four ODIs in the last one year, had opened in three as captain in South Africa and batted in the middle-order upon the return of regular captain Rohit Sharma in what remains his last ODI.

Rahul (603 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 109.23), whose ODI batting average of 67 in the third-highest among middle-order batters (minimum 500 runs) since the start of 2020, should continue to build on his skills as a middle-order batter (in spite of the urge of opening as a captain) for he is unlikely to open in the presence of Shikhar Dhawan and Sharma.

While the same will also provide more chances to an in-form Shubman Gill at the top of the order, Ishan Kishan should be preferred over uncapped batters Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rahul Tripathi for the second batter’s spot. Kishan, who can possibly bat anywhere, could partner Rahul in replacing Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav in the XI.

The third change lies in the bowling department as Kuldeep Yadav seems to be the front-runner to play in place of Yuzvendra Chahal. As much as India would want to include pacer Deepak Chahar into their Playing XI, it would be interesting to see who is left out to accommodate him.

IND vs ZIM Playing 11 Probable

1) Shikhar Dhawan (vc) 2) Shubman Gill 3) Ishan Kishan 4) KL Rahul (c)  5) Sanju Samson (wk) 6) Deepak Hooda 7) Axar Patel 8) Shardul Thakur 9) Kuldeep Yadav 10) & 11) Mohammed Siraj / Prasidh Krishna / Deepak Chahar