MoneyBall9 Fantasy guide: Zimbabwe v India 3rd T20I

Today’s Moneyball9 guide is for the third and the final T20 international between India and Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club.

Coming into the Zimbabwe tour, India was supposed to test their bench strength and how well have they done that. KL Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal, Barinder Sran, Mandeep Singh, Faiz Fazal, Dhawal Kulkarni and Jasprit Bumrah have carried their domestic form to Zimbabwe and seem to be knocking on the door for a permanent limited overs spot in the Indian team.

While the ODIs were all smooth sailing for the Indians, the first T20 proved to be a minor blip, where MS Dhoni & Co. couldn’t finish off the game while requiring 8 to win from the last over.

But with the thumping win in the last game, India proved that the defeat in the first T20 was just a passing shower and not some raging storm.

How is the match expected to play? – Zim v Ind, 3rd T20I Preview: Revitalized India aim to pocket the series

Dhaval Kulkarni and Barinder Sran were drafted into the XI and Sran, in particular, ran through the Zimbabwean top order with some quality swing bowling at the top and some deadly Yorkers at the death. The chase was wiped up by the Indian openers, which helped India restore parity in the series.

It’s all to play for in the final T20, especially for Zimbabwe, for whom a T20 series win against the Indian IPL stars would go a long way in the development of the game in this part of the world.

Let’s get to business now!

Zimbabwe v India 3^rd T20I

Batsmen

Ambati Rayudu, Malcolm Waller and Sikandar Raza make up my batsmen for this game.

Waller and Raza form the spine of the Zimbabwean middle order and both of them played really well in the first T20. Also, as I am opting for all three pace bowlers from India, I need to cut down on my ‘batsman expenses’ in the Moneyball9 Fantasy game and thus I am opting for two Zimbabwean batsmen.

Ambati Rayudu’s performances have largely gone unnoticed in this tour, but he has been really solid as a number 3 batsman and it is only time that he steps up and scores a brisk 50 odd. Get him in, he could go big today!

Wicketkeeper

KL Rahul- The man of the moment. No justifications needed here.

All Rounder

Axar Patel has rediscovered himself in this tour and has been bowling with a host of clever variations, something that could prove to be too much for the inexperienced Zimbabwean line-up.

Bowlers 

Bumrah, Sran and Kulkarni form my bowling unit for this game. These three were brilliant in the last game, swinging India to a win and between them you can expect at least 7 wickets.

Flexible Player

Mandeep Singh is my flexible player for this game. He didn’t have a memorable debut but he did pretty well for himself in the last game, striking a match winning partnership with Rahul. If he continues to bat the way he did in the last game, he could be in for bucketloads of runs!

Happy team picking!

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