India continued their strong form in Harare, beating Zimbabwe by 90 runs to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series. The third and final match will be played at the same venue in less than 24 hours. It is also Shreyas Iyer’s first series win as captain after losing his first two series. Iyer lost his first toss after winning all of his previous 8 coin flips and was asked to bat first. Abhishek Sharma started with a couple of boundaries but fell prey to Blessing Muzarabani once again.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi tore into Richard Ngarava to score 20 off just 9 balls, but fell to the left-arm seamer itself in the same over. Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer added 66 runs for the third wicket and set the platform, before Tilak Varma joined the party and shifted gears brilliantly. Iyer fell after getting a start, but Kishan and Tilak went berserk with a 94-run stand for the fourth wicket.
India Seal T20I Series with Big Win
Kishan slammed 81 off 44 balls, while Tilak remained unbeaten on 60 off 29 balls. India lost a couple of wickets towards the end, with Zimbabwe fielders doing a fine job, but by then India were already in the driver’s seat and finished with 219/5. Barring Sikandar Raza, the rest of the bowlers picked up a wicket each. Raza had an off day and was expensive. Ngarava and Evans leaked runs, too.
Muzarabani and Neman Nyamhuri had decent figures, but that didn’t stop the Men in Blue from posting a big total. It was always going to be a tall task for the Chevrons, and they could only muster 129 before getting all out in 17.5 overs. Brian Bennett started off with some cracking shots and eventually, the right-hander was the top scorer with 32 to his name off 19 balls.
Ryan Burl, Tadiwanashe Marumani and Evans were the other batters in the double figures as the batting lineup, including their skipper Raza, failed to turn up for the big run chase. Mayank Yadav should have had a wicket in the first over, but they didn’t even appeal for the caught behind against Bennett.
Yash Thakur picked up 2/30 on his debut, while Prince Yadav took 2/10 in 1.2 overs before walking off the field after sustaining a hamstring injury. This is one concern for India as the injury seemed to be nasty. Ravi Bishnoi, Shivam Dube and Tilak Varma shared a wicket each, while Abhishek signed off with three late scalps.