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A very Important series for both India and Zimbabwe

India will play Zimbabwe at home after a long time. The last time they played together was when India toured Zimbabwe and lost to them in the test match. They have played 3 test matches in all and have won 1 each and have drawn one. India's record at home is quite invincible. In a total of 334 Test matches they have played home and abroad they have won 62 of them and 95% of them have come at home. To be more precise they have won 48 at home and 14 abroad. This clearly shows that they are quite hard to beat at home. Even though they lost a home series last year against South Africa after 13 years and drew the series against New Zealand but Zimbabwe knows that those results don't mean much because the Indian skipper Ganguly would be very keen to put that record straight.

Zimbabwe got their test status in 1992 and their record is not that impressive. Out of a total of 45 test matches that they played they have won just 3. To add to their woes their two main players Neil Johnson and Murray Goodwin have left for different countries.  Now the burden falls on the Flower brothers and Streak and Guy Whittall to lead the charge. They are a very talented side and their main strength is their batting. Alistair Campbell is an excellent player of both pace and spin. He has been in terrific form and the Zimbabwe batting relies on him heavily.  He went through a very lean patch for almost 2 years but he is back and he is amongst runs. Andy Flower is another Zimbabwe batsman who has been in very good form off late. He has provide solidity to the middle order and is very tough to deal with. His brother Grant has not been in the best of forms but he is the kind of player who cannot lie low for a long time. They have some new players who would not find Indian conditions easy to deal with. Streak has been a good leader and has lead the side well. His batting has improved tremendously in the past few months and his bowling has always been his forte. Zimbabwe's fielding is World Class as all their players are athletic and agile.

On the other hand, India would have an edge over the Zimbabweans. They are playing at home, the crowd would be on their side. Players like Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly enjoy batting on Indian pitches and once they get set, they are tough to get out. Zimbabwe's bowling is not something which would worry the Indians and a lack of quality spinner except may be Paul Strang would not help Zimbabwe's cause either. Indian bowling would be effected by Kumble's absence and especially on the ferozsha Kotla pitch where he made the World record of taking 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan. The Indian team looks balanced and strong and the Indian captain would be looking to wrap up the series 2-0. 

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