Dominant India eye ODI series sweep against Zimbabwe

A dominant India will look to sign off their first-ever bilateral women’s ODI series against Zimbabwe with another emphatic win when the two teams square off in the third and final 50-over game here on Wednesday.

India have already clinched the series with an unassailable 2-0 lead after comprehensive victories in the first two games. They will now aim for a clean sweep to top up a 3-0 T20I series triumph earlier this month. The hosts have barely been challenged across the two ODI outings. Pratika Rawal’s unbeaten 100 and Shree Charani’s four-wicket haul set up a nine-wicket win in the opener before Harmanpreet Kaur’s 126 and Deepti Sharma’s unbeaten 106 powered India to 328 for six in the second match.

India, led by young left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma, then bowled Zimbabwe out for 207 to register a comprehensive 121-run victory and seal the series with a game to spare.

While Smriti Mandhana has begun her full-time captaincy stint on a strong note, the opener would ideally like a big knock before conclusion of the series. She was dismissed after scoring 32 against the run of play in the opener while getting out for a duck in the second match.

Pratika, meanwhile, has made a strong case to keep her opening spot with a century in the first game followed by a fluent 61 in the second.