Predicting Zimbabwe’s Playing XI for their fifth T20I against India

The day of the 5-match T20I series will finally end tomorrow and there have been some great performances we have seen from both the teams. Unfortunately, the Zimbabwe side has once again lost another T20I series to the Men in Blue who came with a young and inexperienced side led by Shubman Gill. The Indians have won the series which is currently 3-1 and will now be going onto the last and final T20I tomorrow.

Though the Indian team will be happy to win another T20I series it is the Zimbabwe team who will have a lot of thinking to do as they will want to finish this series with a win. It has been another average series after a historic start in the first game for Sikandar Raza and his men. The fifth T20I will be a test for the team and will see who will come out on top on the day.

So, here is the predicted playing XI for Zimbabwe in the 5th T20I: 

Top order- Wessley Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani and Brian Bennet

Though we know Innocent Kaia is a great player after seeing Marumani give a great start along with Madhevere in the last match he deserves another chance in the last match as well. Brian Bennet has shown his aggressive style of playing and can be a threat to the Indian bowling attack once he is given a chance. Overall there should not be a lot of changes with this top order at all.

Middle order- Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza(c) and Luke Jongwe

There is no doubt that Dion Myers and skipper Sikandar Raza will be the fixed players in the squad who have been the best performers for Zimbabwe in this series. Luke Jongwe might have to make his way back into the squad and give assistance with both bat and ball and replace the likes of Jonathan Campbell who has underperformed in this series. This might be the first big change they will have to make.

Lower middle-order- Clive Madande(wk) and Wellington Masakadza

Clive Madande has already played a handful of cameos in this series and has done a great job behind the stumps as well. They will also have to bring back the likes of Wellington Masakadza with his left-arm spin as well. He has also shown that he can be handy with the bat at times and should come in for Faraz Akram on what will be a slow and low pitch which does not give the seamers a lot of seam movement.

Tailenders- Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani and Tendai Chatara 

The bowlers have done a great job for Zimbabwe and maybe Ngarava might have struggled in the last game, but he has still given some great performances in the past. Muzarabani and Chatara have been exceptional as well and they will be the key bowlers that can cause problems for the Indian batters. This will be another chance for both of these players to give another great performance.