Harare Sports Club: Under-fire skipper Shreyas Iyer will be desperate to halt a worrying slide and register his first victory as T20I captain when a youthful India face a spirited Zimbabwe in the first T20I here at the Harare Sports Club on Thursday.
Having suffered consecutive series defeats in Ireland (2-0) and England (4-0), the pressure is squarely on Iyer to turn around India's fortunes. Despite his solid personal form in England, where he scored 218 runs at a strike rate of 157.97, Iyer has managed just one win in his last 13 completed matches as captain across international and IPL games.
The three-match series also offers young opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a prime opportunity to cement his place at the top of the order in the absence of Sanju Samson. Returning to the venue of his blistering U-19 World Cup final heroics, the teenaged Sooryavanshi will look to bounce back from a modest debut tour of England, where he was troubled by short balls.
