India eye series win as Zimbabwe look to bounce back in Harare

The unbeaten streak is broken, and much like it has been for the past two months for many of the Indian players, another contest stands in front of them before there is enough time to make sense of what really happened. A comfortable seven-wicket cruise in the first T20I wouldn’t leave them fretting, but the conveyor belt of matches continues, and now finally they have the chance to seal their first series win under Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy.

It was the pace of Mayank Yadav that left Zimbabwe rattled in the first match, and the inexperienced Indian attack would be raring to have another go at the hosts. Iyer, the Indian captain, had mentioned at the start of the series that a few wins would be all that it takes to rejuvenate the confidence of the players who endured a challenging run in the UK recently.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has made his first strong impression at the international stage, and would hope to make more of the opportunities in conditions where the pressure is bound to be lesser, and his place in the side more secure.

For as uneven a contest it was expected to be on paper, Zimbabwe would know that they didn’t put their best foot forward, especially with the bat. The moisture on the surface made the start quite challenging for them, and tilted the scales against them even further, but they would hope that the playing conditions would be more even for them to make a stronger comeback on Saturday.

When: Saturday, July 24, 2026, 1:00 PM Local/4.30 PM IST

Where: Zimbabwe vs India, 2nd T20I, Harare Sports Club, Harare

What to expect: Run-scoring hasn’t usually been easy on the surface, but Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has had a different experience to speak of at the Harare Sports Club. Zimbabwe's new-ball pacers have been effective with their hard lengths. But if they push the Indian batters on the backfoot, expect a counteroffensive irrespective of whether there is aid for the pacers or not.

Team News:

Zimbabwe: Innocent Kaia had joined the squad ahead of the first T20I, but he is unlikely to find a place in the XI

Probable XI: Brian Bennett, Ben Curran, Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Wesley Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Brad Evans, Newman Nyamhuri, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani

India: While there would be a temptation to give some players on the bench a go, India may not want to make any immediate changes

Probable XI: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Prince Yadav, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav

Did you know?

• Four Indian men have made their T20I debuts this year
• Ishan Kishan is two runs away from becoming the 11th Indian batter to score 1500 runs in T20Is
• Among all the Indian players who have played more than 5 T20Is, Rinku Singh (0.822) and Tilak Varma (0.763) have the highest catches per match.

What they said:

“Ravi Bishnoi's series was not good in England and there was a lot of talk about no-bowl. He hasn't changed anything in his action. He has re-aligned his run-up. We've also communicated with Sairaj [Bahutule]. So, we've had good conversations with him. And eventually, we've seen that he's not even going close to the return crease also, which is very pleasing for him, honestly, and for us also.” - Sunil Joshi, India’s interim bowling coach on Ravi Bishnoi

“Marumani and Madhevere - thought they batted really well to give us some sort of a respectable total. We'll take that as a positive, and hopefully the other guys can chip in as well so that we can put up a competitive total if we bat first." - Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe captain