adminThe newly-appointed coach, along with his players and technical staff, are eager to face the Indians in the first match at Harare Sports Club tomorrow.
Zimbabwe have been preparing for the tour for the last two months and will this morning have their final preparation at the match venue as they hope for surprises against the highly rated opponents.
“Our guys are hugely excited about this, it’s one that we have vastly prepared knowing that the best side in the world is coming over.
“I think the guys are up for it hopefully all the work we’ve put in the last nine weeks will pay off.
“Our top six are quite settled and I would like to think that they know they are in that position but we obviously have some spare batters to move in,” said Waller.
India are riding high as the team of the moment — winning the ICC Champions Trophy last month in England and the ICC Cricket World Cup at home in 2011.
They are coming from their Caribbean Triangular which they won against West Indies and Pakistan.
Others feel the touring side, which is captained by Virat Kolhi, is slightly weakened by the absence of the likes of Ishant Sharma , Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and regular skipper MS Dhoni.
Waller believes this is not true as India has an array of quality players capable of winning major tournaments.
He said their recent ICC Champions Trophy success came without some of the traditional names associated with the team and it has always been an Indian tradition to always unleash excellent players.
“I think they have so many cricket players (in India) and the guys that have come up are great and I don’t think there is a huge difference to be honest.
“We know they are all very good cricketers, we don’t even look at it as a weakened side I am sure the guys who are replacing the guys who are staying behind are just as good,” he said.
The world champions have included star batsman, Shikhar Dhawan, in their touring party.
He was the outstanding batsman at the ICC Champions Trophy, winning the player of the series after scoring 363 runs.
When you have that quality in your team, it’s unfair for suggestions of a weakened side being thrown around.
Some members of the Zimbabwe national squad hosted Australia XI in a three-day match at Country Club last weekend.
Zimbabwe A lost the match by 80 runs and their batsmen largely struggled on a batting track that aided the fast bowlers.
Waller said the result did not deflate their spirits and, instead, they drew some positives from the defeat against a quality Australia A team.
“We are not shaken at all, as you saw, it was quite an interesting wicket, it was a difficult wicket and I think the guys are actually positive about it because they (Australia A) were a damn good bowling side.
“I think we know it is a lot harder batting at the wicket at Country Club that here at Harare Sports Club so I don’t think it was a negative thing at all.
“I think our guys bowled exceptionally well in the second innings. I think the control that we have is a lot better than it was ten weeks ago so the hard work is paying off.
“I thought the fielding was damn good so that was a positive.”
Kyle Jarvis was one of the in-form players against Australia A, with figures of six wickets for 93 runs in two innings.
The coach is happy about the wicket prepared at Harare Sports Club which is very different from the traditional winter wickets that tend to be dry.
“It is not looking like a winter track, they have put a lot of water on it and left a small amount of grass to make sure that doesn’t dry up quickly.”
The coach also confirmed that Raymond Price is part of the squad for India bring the total number of players for the tour to 17.
India arrived in Zimbabwe at the weekend ZC last night hosted a dinner when fans had a unique opportunity to mix with the world champions.
The tourists are today expected to conduct a coaching clinic for first team players from 11 Harare schools, in a new ZC development initiative dubbed the “Future Zimbabwe Stars Programme”, which will see local and visiting national teams going out to help school cricketers with their game.
The Squads
Zimbabwe: Brendan Taylor, Vusi Sibanda, Razza Butt, Hamilton Masakadza, Sean Williams, Malcolm Waller, Timycen Maruma, Elton Chigumbura, Tendai Chatara, Kyle Jarvis, Brain Vitori, Prosper Utseya, Graeme Cremer, Natsai M’shangwe, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Michael Chinouya, Raymond Price.
India: Virat Kohli (capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Parvez Rasool, Shami Ahmed, R Vinay Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohit Sharma.
Match schedule
1st ODI — Zimbabwe v India — 24 July at Harare Sports Club
2nd ODI — Zimbabwe v India -26 July at Harare Sports Club
3rd ODI — Zimbabwe v India – 28 July at Harare Sports Club
4th ODI — Zimbabwe v India -31 July at Queens Sport Club
5th ODI — Zimbabwe v India —3 August at Queens Sports Club
Online Reporter