HARARE - Seamer Mohit Sharma looks set to earn his international debut on Sunday as India aim to wrap up the one-day series against Zimbabwe at the first opportunity. India go into the third one-day international at Harare Sports Club leading the five-match series 2-0, having won the first two matches comfortably.
Although the visitors fielded the same XI in those outings, part of their objective on this tour is to discover the depth in their ranks and Mohit is the first in line for an opportunity. The 24-year-old put in a string of impressive performances for the Chennai Super Kings during the Indian Premier League this year, when Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni regularly called upon his services in pressure situations.
Mohit is expected to replace R Vinay Kumar, who has been India's most errant bowler on the tour so far, conceding 106 runs in 18 overs during the first two matches. Beyond that change, India may hold off further experimentation until they have wrapped up the series and moved down to Bulawayo for the final two games.
"I feel Zimbabwe are playing good cricket and there's always a chance they could cause an upset, but we'd like to win all of the games," opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan said. Dhawan played a leading role in Friday's second one-day international, making the most of the three lives granted to him to score 116 in a 58-run victory.
For their part, Zimbabwe will be looking to cut down on the sort of errors which helped Dhawan to his century and also saw the home side lose wickets to loose shots. "What's quite frustrating is we should be learning from the opposition," coach Andy Waller said afterwards.
"We look at guys like (Virat) Kohli and them bat: they don't play too many rash shots, they just keep it simple and we should be learning from that. We're not, and we've got to start doing that, otherwise we're going to find it difficult." Dhawan's advice for the struggling Zimbabweans was that they needed as much game time as possible if they want to move forward. "You need a lot of match practice - that's what I feel," he said. "You learn how to take the pressure and you learn how to play in different situations. I feel that works for us."