Zimbabwe hosts India in a series of three one-day internationals beginning on Thursday, they will face their greatest test since Dave Houghton took over as coach two months ago.
A number of players, including batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, being rested ahead of the Asia Cup in the UAE this month.
India is ranked third in the ODI rankings, 10 places above Zimbabwe, behind leaders New Zealand and England.
The southern African nation has won nine out of its last eleven ODI and Twenty20 international matches while being coached by former batting champion Houghton, 64. In order to get to the 2022 T20 World Cup, Houghton’s hosts Zimbabwe defeated non-Test nations Jersey, Singapore, the United States, Papua New Guinea, and the Netherlands.
Higher-ranked Bangladesh was supposed to pop the bubble, but they unexpectedly lost both the T20 and ODI series 2-1. Sikandar Raza, a batsman of Pakistani descent whose boyhood aim was to become a fighter pilot was derailed by an eyesight issue, was instrumental in the ODI series with two consecutive century. Shikhar Dhawan, the opening batter for India, described the player as “a really excellent player who has been representing Zimbabwe with distinction for a long time.”
“Sikandar is a skilled batsman and ballplayer in cricket. I have no doubt that our bowlers will devise clever strategies to defeat him. “Houghton claimed that the 36-year-undefeated old’s innings of 135 and 117 had a domino effect since they gave his colleagues more self-assurance. Innocent Kaia scored a century in his maiden ODI while playing with Sikandar, and later Regis Chakabva hit his first ODI century with some exquisite smashes.
