Zimbabwe captain Josephine Nkomo won the toss and elected to bat against India in the second T20I of the three-match series at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Sunday.
Nkomo said Zimbabwe would look to build on their positive start in the previous match by rotating the strike effectively and posting a competitive total. She also stressed the importance of bowling well during the powerplay and confirmed that the visitors would field an unchanged playing XI.
“We will bat first, last time we had good start and we are hoping to do well. We just want to rotate the strike well and put up a good total. Hopefully we go through the process well, we would like to bowl well in the power-play. We are going with the same eleven,” Nkomo said at the toss.
India captain Smriti Mandhana said the hosts were keen to improve their batting after a top-order collapse in the series opener. India were reduced to 19/4 while chasing a target of 115 before recovering to secure a four-wicket victory.
“We were looking to bowl first. We didn’t bat well in the first match and we will look to get better in that department. Last match we were 19/4 and we would want to do well. We are going with the same eleven,” Mandhana said.
India women began the series with a four-wicket win over Zimbabwe at the same venue on Friday. Despite losing four wickets for just 19 runs during their chase, the hosts regrouped to reach the target in 15.4 overs.
The opening match was also Mandhana’s first outing as India’s full-time captain, with the team managing to overcome its early batting struggles and take a 1-0 lead in the series.
India will aim to improve their batting performance and seal the series with another victory, while Zimbabwe will look to make the most of batting first and level the three-match contest.
India vs Zimbabwe 2nd T20I: Playing XI
India: Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma, Anushka Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Niki Prasad, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (w), Arundhati Reddy, Shree Charani, Nandani Sharma, Kranti Gaud.
Zimbabwe: Kelis Ndhlovu, Beloved Biza, Modester Mupachikwa (w), Sharne Mayers, Nyasha Gwanzura, Michelle Mavunga, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, Francisca Chipare, Josephine Nkomo (c), Olinder Chare, Tendai Makusha.