India v Zimbabwe Third T20I: Expert Prediction & Analysis

India v Zimbabwe predictions: 

• Abhishek Sharma over 27.5 PP points - 1.83 @ Rajabets Sports
• Innocent Kaia under 14.5 runs - 1.83 @ Rajabets Sports
• Brian Bennett most Zimbabwe sixes - 4.5 @ Rajabets Sports

When: Wednesday 10 July, 4:30pm IST

Where: Harare Sports Club, Harare

Watch: Sony Sports, SonyLIV

Best Odds: India 1.1, Zimbabwe 7

India shook off the complacency that sparked an historic T20I loss to non-World Cup participants Zimbabwe in Harare last weekend as their second string squad shared one win apiece.

As a result, the win odds amongst Indian cricket betting sites has returned to what they were for the first game, with the world champions’ understudies at unbackable odds. 

Thanks to the plethora of markets offered by new Indian bookmakers, there is no shortage of high-value opportunities to be found for bettors following this series, whilst we also hope our cricket betting blog is of assistance to fantasy players around the country.

The Indians will welcome back two squad members who were held up in Barbados with the World Cup team by Hurricane Beryl - Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson could be an integral part of India’s T20 World Cup title defence in 2026 and have joined the team for the final three games of the series. 

That should only strengthen India’s chances of taking a 2-1 series lead heading into the weekend, and we too will be hoping to dust off the disappointment of some unsuccessful predictions for Saturday’s first match. We go again!

The Numbers That Matter

• Zimbabwe lost at least nine wickets in six of their last eight T20Is
• All four opening partnerships in this series were ten or fewer runs
• Ravi Bishnoi in this series: 2-11 (4), 4-13 (4)
• Sikandar Raza has just 90 career runs from six innings against India

Abhishek the all-rounder?

Abhishek Sharma’s breakout century on Sunday has almost certainly booked him another three opportunities to permanently seal a spot as Shubman Gill’s opening partner in the new look full-strength T20I XI. 

It was a perfectly timed knock as he was one of four potential openers to take to the field on Sunday alongside number three Ruturaj Gaikwad and the debuting Sai Sudharsan, and with Yashasvi Jaiswal also waiting in the wings the opening pair is perhaps the most competitive spot of the entire Indian team heading into the 2026 T20 World Cup.

But Abhishek has also been given some opportunities throughout this series to demonstrate his prowess as a batting all-rounder, and whilst he has so far been unsuccessful with no wickets from five overs, it does open up an interesting market on various Indian betting apps. 

Should he again bowl a couple of overs and find that elusive first T20I wicket, that alone would give Abhishek 20 of the 28 ‘player performance’ points he needs to clear the 27.5 point mark set by bookmakers, which he could very well do with the bat alone. 

Prediction: Abhishek Sharma over 27.5 PP points - 1.83 @ Rajabets Sports

Guilty of not being Innocent

We promise that’s the last time we’ll use that pun! But it does summarise the struggles the 31-year-old continues to have in this format.

He has shown glimpses in the two longer formats of why team management continue to give him additional opportunities, particularly with a dearth of opening batting talent challenging him for his place.

He was all at sea against Mukesh Kumar in both matches, being bowled after facing just one and three deliveries respectively, and therefore hasn’t even had the time to adjust to the rest of India’s bowling lineup let alone his conqueror Mukesh.

His T20I batting average of 15.26 is despite the majority of his cricket being against associate opposition such as Namibia, USA and Scotland, whilst he now has just 30 runs from five innings against India across both white ball formats.  

On a similar note, we predicted Tadiwanashe Marumani to score under 16.5 runs in our preview of the first T20I only for Kaia to be selected ahead of him.

Should your favourite cricket betting apps offer this market for Wednesday’s game, we would advise you to back that as Marumani could play in place of the struggling Kaia.

Prediction: Innocent Kaia under 14.5 runs - 1.83 @ Rajabets Sports

Bennett the boundary basher

22-year-old Brian Bennett is rising quickly both up the Zimbabwe batting order and in the eyes of those around the world who have witnessed his fearless ball striking that the Chevrons so sorely need to qualify for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

He’s going to need some time and experience at this level to learn how to build a T20I innings against elite bowling attacks, but there have been signs across his fledgling career that, similarly to Abhishek Sharma, he can score very early and impactful boundaries.

In four of his last six T20I appearances, including both of this series, Bennett finished as the outright or joint-top six hitter of the Zimbabwe side. 

He hasn’t got a great deal of competition outside of captain Sikandar Raza and fellow newcomer Johnathan Campbell when it comes to hitting sixes, so given his upside his price of 4.5 with some Indian cricket bookmakers looks appealing.

Prediction: Brian Bennett most Zimbabwe sixes - 4.5 @ Rajabets Sports