India are set to rekindle their rivalry with Zimbabwe as the two teams come face to face in the first match of the three-match ODI series on Thursday, (August 18). The last these two sides squared off in a 50-overs match, India beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets on 15 June 2016.
It has been a long time since then, and the hosts will be hoping to give a good account of themselves against an Indian side that will be led by KL Rahul. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant etc have been rested for the Zimbabwe tour and a young Indian brigade has travelled to Harare for the ODI series.
Zimbabwe come into this series on the back of a 2-1 ODI series win over Bangladesh at home, while they beat the Bangla Tigers by a similar margin in the T20I series earlier.
India meanwhile have also been in a rich vein of form, having beaten West Indies in the ODI and T20I series.
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India vs Zimbabwe 1st ODI weather forecast
According to reports from weather.com, the temperature in Zimbabwe's Harare on August 18 (Thursday) will be 27° Celcius during the day and the same is expected to fall down to 12° Celcius at night. The sky will be clear during the day and night. There are 0% chances of rain throughout the entire day, so the contest will not be affected by rain at all. Humidity will be near about 32% during the day and could rise up to 53% during the night.
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India vs Zimbabwe 1st ODI pitch report
The Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe is a venue where there are rarely high-scoring contests, rather it's an average-scoring ground. The average total for 1st innings at this venue is 231 runs, while the average 2nd innings total is 195. The pitch at Harare Sports Club is expected to assist spinners and seamers, so it could be a day for the bowlers to cherish. The highest total ever recorded here in an ODI is 350.
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IND vs ZIM 1st ODI Probable Playing XIs
Zimbabwe: Milton Shumba, Innocent Kaia, Regis Chakabva, Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Sikandar Raza, Wesley Madhevare, Ryan Burl, Luke Jongwe, Donald Tiripano, Victor Nyauchi, Richard Ngarava
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Deepak Hooda, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ravi Bishnoi
