Zimbabwe v India Fifth T20 Tips: Take a small risk on last hurrah for Zims

• Small-stakes gamble on hosts

• Slower surface may reduce gulf in class

• Could Gaikwad get opening chance?

• Madande a top-bat interest

• Read our England v Spain tips here!

Zimbabwe v India
Sunday 14 July, 12:00

Zimbabwe v India Fifth T20 team news

Game five is a dead rubber despite the hosts taking a 1-0 lead. They have struggled to be competitive in the last three T20. And as stated previosuly, there is little Zimbabwe can do in terms of strengthening or tweaking their line-up.

They go again with the same line-up which was outplayed in game four having played all their cards. Opener Tadi Marumani, who has replaced Innocent Kaia, produced exactly the sort of go-slow expected. His strike rate of 103 for 32 was almost bang-on with his previous 29 internationals.

All-rounder Faraz Akram came infor Wellington Masakadze in a like-for-like. Sikandar Raza, as is so often the case, raged against the dying of the light with a brilliant 46 but they never looked like defending 152.

Probable XI: Marumani, Madhevere, Bennett, Myers, Raza, Campbell, Madande, Akram, Ngarava, Muzarabani, Chatara

India are playing fast and loose with the term 'balanced XI'. In game four they again picked four specialist openers and pushed the envelope further with only two specialist pacers in Khaleel Ahmed and Tushar Deshpande.

Not that it mattered. A ten-wicket success was justification. Pace-off proved decisive and they read the pitch for the bowlers perfectly. Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar and Abhishek Sharma spun a web.

With Shubman Gill, the skip, enjoying back-to-back half-centuries it is just possible they make a change in the opening slot. Ruturaj Gaikwad could get another go. Yas Jaiswal, after 93 off 53, should retain the other berth.

Possible XI: Gill, Jaiswal, Abhishek, Gaikwad, Rinku, Samson, Dube, Sundar, Bishnoi, Deshpande, Khaleel

Zimbabwe v India Fifth T20 pitch report

Three of the four matches so far in Harare have been won by the side batting first. Although the only significant trend in truth is that Zimbabwe appear to be playing on a different surface to India. If the visitors bat first, 180-190 looks about par. Zimbabwe are likely to shift their target score up several notches after a chastening effort in the field. They may only manage slightly over 160. The first-innings runs market is here.

Zimbabwe v India Fifth T20 match prediction

Zimbabwe continue to drift in the match-odds market. They are now out to 9.4017/2 having been 7.6013/2 for game three and 8.6015/2 for game four. It is understandable.

We were keen on a trade batting first last time out with a target score of 150 to 160 on a potentially slow surface. We were on course. However, Zimbabwe failed to take a wicket or show any semblance of control.

And yet we will consider a small-stakes risk on them here. As stated, we're not loving the balance of the India XI and are just hoping that the aforementioned blueprint might be right again as it was for game one. A dead rubber may also fail to motivate India's second string.

Zimbabwe v India Fifth T20 player bets

We had a very tasty winner on Raza copping on top-bat in game four, putting faith in a win rate of just shy of 39% coming good. Naturally with profits in the bank we don't need to revisit for him to go back-to-back. A returning winner in the series could be Clive Madande who ticks the boxes at 14/115.00.

For India, if we're right about Gill making way for Gaikwad the Chennai opener could be value at 7/24.50. They may also want to give crease time to Rinku Singh or Shivam Dube so there's a possibility of a promotion up to No 3. Likewise Sanju Samson who looks big indeed at 9/110.00.

Now read more of the the best Cricket Tips here!