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India Zimbabwe ODI Series: Indian players to watch out for

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India clash with hosts Zimbabwe in an ODI series in Harare from the 18th of August.

It’s a clash between the 3rd ranked and 13th ranked teams in the world.

Interestingly, it is happening just 2 months before the T20 World Cup.

This will give India a chance to observe a few players closely before selecting the final squad for the marquee tournament.

The series is also important for Zimbabwe as they are trying to get a direct entry to the 50-over World Cup in India next year.

India will be the obvious favourites though they are missing many of their leading stars.

Despite this, they can expect a strong fight against Zimbabwe who are coming off the back of two successive series wins against Bangladesh at home.

One of the players under the spotlight will be Deepak Hooda.

He had a fine IPL this season and also showed his prowess with the bat in the limited opportunities for India.

Hooda has scored 274 runs in seven T20I innings at a strike rate of 161.17 including an attacking hundred against Ireland. These are outstanding numbers.

This track record will make it hard for the selectors to exclude him from the Asia Cup squad too.

This series his also important for KL Rahul who last represented India in any format in February this year.

Despite scoring heavily in the IPL, questions are being raised about his fitness and lack of match practice as he has missed many India tours after the IPL.

Rahul has an average of 46.68 and strike rate of 88.61 in ODI cricket with five hundreds in 41 innings.

New-ball specialist, Deepak Chahar will also be making his first appearance for the India in over six months.

Chahar is known for his ability to swing and seam the white ball in the powerplay.

With injuries to Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, the Indian selectors might just want to keep Chahar, who is on standby for the Asia Cup, in the mix for the World Cup.

Shubman Gill and Prasidh Krishna will be two other Indian players to watch out for in the series.

Gill was the Player of the Series in the ODI leg in the Caribbean with scores of 64 (53 balls), 43 (49 balls) and 98 not out (98 balls) in the three matches.

Krishna has had a fine start for India in ODI cricket and his wicket-taking prowess stands out.

The lanky pacer has bagged 21 wickets in just 12 matches at a strike rate of 28.

Vital Stats

India have won their last three bilateral ODI series.

They beat West Indies 3-0 at home before going to their shores and returning with the same scoreline. They also defeated England 2-1 in the latter’s own backyard.

India have won 19 and lost 4 of their 23 matches in Zimbabwe (vs Zimbabwe).

KL Rahul has an average of 56.62 and strike rate of 113.81 batting at number 5.

His numbers drop to 46.52 and 80.58 when he opens the innings for India in ODI cricket.

Shikhar Dhawan has failed in 4 of his last 7 ODI innings and has a strike rate of just 69.96 in these matches for India.

India Likely 11

Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav.

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Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry star in RCB women’s comeback win against UP Warriorz in WPL 2024

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Smriti Mandhana and Alyssa Healy (Source - X)

RCB women overcame UP Warriorz by 23 runs to clinch their third win of the season. The home side outperformed Warriorz in all the facets of the game and emerged victorious. A collective team effort, particularly with the bat, helped RCB women to beat Warriorz for the second time in the season. They now have three wins in their five matches in the WPL 2024.

Alyssa Healy won the toss and opted to field first. Given how things have panned out in the league so far, it needed a great batting performance from RCB to challenge the chasing side. The home side did exactly that. They were full of intent which was lacking in the last few games. Right from the start, S Meghana and Smriti Mandhana smashed the bowlers.

It was the night of the RCB skipper. The Southpaw scored 80(50) in her stay. S Meghana perished after a valuable 28(21). Ellyse Perry batted well and registered her first fifty of the WPL 2024. She was aided well towards the end by Richa Ghosh whose 21(10) propelled RCB to a score of 198 on the board. It was the highest team total in the WPL 2024.

Alyssa Healy’s efforts go in vain

Chasing the daunting total, UP Warriorz were off to a flier. The opening duo of Healy and Kiran Navgire gave a fiery start to the visiting side. When the two were batting in the PP overs, it seemed like the Warriorz could pull off an insane chase. However, Sophie Devine brought RCB back into the game with crucial wickets. At Bengaluru, the home crowd was literally behind the RCB women.

It helped the home side to stay calm and do their job with ease. Sophie Molineux and Asha Sobhana were the pick of the bowlers, who claimed 2/29 each in their spell of four overs. While Healy scored a fifty and Deepti tried her best in the death overs, ten daunting targets could not be chased down. Despite the early hiccups, RCB managed to restrict UP Warriorz to a score of 175 and won by 23 runs.

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WATCH: Ellyse Perry in disbelief as her six breaks car’s window

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Ellyse Perry smashed a six in the match against UP Warriorz in the WPL 2024. It was an interesting six as the ball travelled towards the boundary ropes and fell exactly on the window of the car. As a result, the glass of the window was broken. The car is set to be provided as a reward for the player of the tournament.

It was the over of Deepti Sharma towards the last few moments of RCB’s innings. Before Perry struck, the home side was in a great position in the match, thanks to a great start provided by Smriti Mandhana. The star batter scored 80 (50) and shined in front of the home crowd. Her form helped RCB to have a good momentum towards the death overs.

Watch the viral video here –

Perry, who was struggling till that point, opened up and smashed the bowlers for fun. She went hard against the spinners like Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma who were asked to bowl at the death. The right-handed batter smashed back-to-back sixes in the over of Sharma. One of those travelled towards the mid-wicket region where the car was stationed. The video of her shot has gone viral on X.

RCB teammates laugh, Ellyse Perry in disbelief

As the ball fell on the car and damaged the window, the fans erupted. There was no end to the joy of the fans who started chanting “Perry.. Perry..” and lit the atmosphere of the stadium. However, Perry was in disbelief. As she saw the impact of the ball damaging the car’s window, the Australian batter could not believe her eyes and thought about what she had just done.

On the other hand, the RCB teammates of Perry were in awe of the shot. They looked at the replays and appreciated the shot of Perry. At the same time, players like Sophie Molineux and Sophie Devine had a laugh about the car’s window getting damaged. Ellyse scored a fifty and helped her team score 198 runs with her batting in front of the home crowd.

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Praveen Kumar addresses Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer’s negligence of taking part in Ranji Trophy

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Praveen Kumar

Praveen Kumar has given his opinion on the preferences of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer in recent times. The duo did not take part in the Ranji Trophy matches for their respective teams despite being fit. It did not go well with the Indian Cricket Board which landed the duo without a ventral contract which was announced a few days back.

Praveen Kumar has reacted to the issue recently. The former India pacer claimed that he has been of an opinion on the issue for a long time. Praveen felt that one should definitely earn money but not at the cost of neglecting to play for domestic and national teams. The right-arm pacer felt that players today are having a certain mentality which is not good.

The former pacer claimed that the players have a mindset that they can rest for a month before taking part in the IPL, thereby bypassing playing for their national team or the domestic teams. Praveen felt that the players could not resist letting go of money which they could earn by taking part in the IPL and other T20 leagues (For foreign players).

‘Ye mentally hota hai, ki mai itne paise kaise chodun’ – Praveen Kumar

“This thing is now firmly in the mind of players. Mai ek mahine pehle rest kar lunga, fir IPL khel lunga. Ye mentally hota hai, ki mai itne paise kaise chodun,” said Praveen in the interview. He claimed that youngsters these days are spoilt and are behind money. The former RCB pacer felt that it is not fair on the part of the young players to neglect the country over the IPL.

Kumar felt that a player needs to maintain a balance between playing for the IPL team and for the country. He felt that money is an important factor, but not at the cost of playing for the national team. “But this is not fair at all. A player needs to balance things. Money is important, but this (giving franchise cricket the priority) is wrong,” said the former Indian bowler in the interview.

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