India’s skipper Shreyas Iyer chose to bowl first after winning the toss against Zimbabwe in the first T20I at Harare Sports Club. India, the reigning T20 World Cup champions, aim for a comeback following recent series losses to England and Ireland. Iyer mentioned fielding three seamers – Ashok Sharma, Prince Yadav, and Mayank Yadav – alongside leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
Zimbabwe, coming off a T20I series loss to Bangladesh, won the Test and ODI series. Captain Sikandar Raza noted that Ben Curran and Newman Nyamhuri are making their T20I debuts. Raza expects a high-scoring match despite the pitch offering some assistance initially. He highlighted the positives from the Bangladesh series, emphasizing the need for contributions from the middle and lower order.
The playing XIs for the match are set with India fielding Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, and others. Zimbabwe’s lineup includes Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Ben Curran, and others in their squad.
