Tendai Chatara and Sikandar Raza starred with the ball, picking three wickets apiece as India collapsed in a hurry much to the delight of a Harare crowd – Harare Sports Club was packed to the rafters. Abhishek fell for a four-ball duck, Ruturaj Gaikwad for 7, Parag’s debut lasted three balls and Rinku Singh lasted all of two, as India lost four wickets inside five overs. And when Sikandar Raza cleaned up Shubman Gill for 31, the whole of Harare believed.
Exactly a week after India were crowned the T20 world champions, their second choice-unit suffered a shocking loss at the hands of Zimbabwe in a low-scoring thriller in Harare. Zimbabwe, with a point to prove after missing the cut for the tournament in West Indies and USA, staged a stunning comeback with the ball after a poor performance with the bat.
Pitch and Toss
Slight covering of grass. Would dry out quickly. The surface won’t change much. Good batting wicket. 150 is the average score at Harare in the last 10-12 games but don’t think that would be enough on this deck.
Shubman Gill the new Indian skipper won the toss and chose to bowl first with 3 debutants in Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel to star in Indian playing XI. Sikandar Raza the Zimbabwean skipper batting first insisted on young faces in his playing XI.
India, Zimbabwe trade blows in the powerplay
India could have opted to test themselves by batting first having picked three debutants in the form of Abhishek Sharma, Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag. However, Shubman Gill opted to bowl first having won the toss and Mukesh Kumar struck off the first ball in the second over to dent the hosts early. Brian Bennett walked out with intent and collected a few early boundaries that saw Zimbabwe race to 40 in five overs but Ravi Bishnoi closed out the powerplay in fantastic fashion by bowling a wicket maiden, getting rid of the dangerous Bennett.
Zimbabwe had the perfect start to their innings when Wesley Madhevere drove Khaleel Ahmed straight down the ground for four. Their joy was short-lived though, with Mukesh Kumar uprooting Innocent Kaia’s leg stump with the first ball of his spell (the second over of the innings).
Bennett and Madhevere, however, took Zimbabwe forward swiftly. Bennett started off with a screeching square drive and then got a thick outside edge past second slip for four more. Khaleel was then taken for 17 off the fifth over between both batters, albeit in streaky fashion. Bennett first got a – fortunate – boundary over slips before Avesh made a meal of a relatively straightforward chance at deep third. Madhevere then pumped Khaleel through the midwicket and then got another edge over slip as Zimbabwe raced to 40 for 1 after five.
Zimbabwe lose their way in the middle overs as Ravi Bishnoi wrong ‘uns flummox Zimbabwe
40/2 after the powerplay is certainly a decent score on a track that wasn’t a belter. But Zimbabwe failed to bat well in the middle phase of the innings as the visitors struck at regular intervals.
Bishnoi struck in his second over as well with a googly and even though Zimbabwe got some runs off Abhishek and Avesh Khan, the pacer redeemed himself with the big wicket of skipper Sikandar Raza as the veteran top-edged a pull. Washington Sundar was very miserly with his spell and was rewarded with wickets off successive deliveries that completely put India on top as Zimbabwe went into the death overs at 90/7.
Bishnoi, with his variations, was always expected to be a tricky customer for the Zimbabwe batters and he was among the wickets straight away. Almost exclusively bowling wrong ‘uns – 22 of his 24 balls were wrong ‘uns according to ESPNCricinfo’s logs – he started by cleaning up Bennett for a 15-ball 22. It was a bail-trimmer. In Bishnoi’s next over, it was Madhevere sent back – he missed a slog sweep and his off stump took a beating.
Sikandar Raza struck a delightful six, straight down the ground off Avesh, while adding 23 off 24 balls for the fourth wicket with Dion Myers. But his wicket brought about a collapse of epic proportions. From 74 for 3 in the 12th over, Zimbabwe slipped to 90 for 9 in the 16th with Bishnoi and Washington the wreckers-in-chief.
Zimbabwe drag themselves to 115 after 20 overs
The fact that Zimbabwe didn’t get bowled out was a surprise because 90/7 became 90/9 in a matter of six more deliveries as Bishnoi finished his spell with a four-wicket haul. However, the last wicket pair of Clive Madande and Tendai Chatara hung in there for the home side and batted out the remaining overs. Madande managed to even collect three fours in that final over to drag his side close to 120.
A rush of blood got the better of Sikandar Raza who holed out to deep midwicket off Avesh. A complete breakdown in communication saw Johnathan Campbell run out first ball before Washington picked two in two. He first had Myers caught and bowled before having Masakadza stumped first ball. Jongwe survived the hat-trick ball but fell in the next over, lbw to Bishnoi.
Bishnoi picked his fourth wicket by removing Muzarabani, Zimbabwe losing six wickets for 16 runs in 23 balls. That Zimbabwe reached 115 was down to an unbroken last-wicket stand of 25 between Clive Madande and Chatara – and how useful those runs would eventually prove.
Zimbabwe’s stunning start in Powerplay sets India on the backfoot
Simply put, no one saw this coming. A chase that was supposed to be a walk in the park for India quickly turned into a nightmare. Debutant Abhishek mistimed one and was caught by the only man stationed near deep midwicket for a duck in the first over. While Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad played a couple of gorgeous shots, the latter edged Blessing Muzarabani behind to get caught at slip.
By the end of the fifth over, they were properly in trouble as Chatara dismissed both Parag and Rinku Singh in a matter of three deliveries to leave India reeling at 22/4. It almost became 22/5 after Gill was given out lbw but the skipper managed to overturn the decision with a review.
Not many would have given Zimbabwe much of a chance at the halfway stage, but the bowlers found their lengths from the get-go. Sikandar Raza opened the bowling with two spinners – Brian Bennett and Wellington Masakadza – and his decision was vindicated immediately; Abhishek top-edged Bennett in the first over to deep backward square leg.
Blessing Muzarabani then got Gaikwad to edge a back of a length ball to slip before Chatara picked two wickets in three balls to really unsettle India. Parag’s on-the-up drive only went as far as mid-off while Rinku could only manage a top-edge to a well-directed bouncer that ballooned straight up for short fine leg to take a simple catch. At 28 for 4 after six overs, India were already staring down the barrel
India continue to stutter in the middle overs as Sikandar Raza made regular inroads
India had their hopes pinned on Shubman Gill after that disastrous start. Dhruv Jurel on the other hand bided his time to get into his groove and broke the shackles with a boundary off Luke Jongwe. But the bowler struck back immediately as the batter hit one at short cover as India lost half the side inside 10 overs.
Zimbabwe put themselves in total control in the following over when Sikandar Raza got rid of his opposite number as India’s biggest hope was knocked over. Bishnoi tried to keep the score moving with a couple of boundaries but Sikandar Raza ensured there were no further fireworks from him. In the final five, the visitors needed 41 runs with Washington carrying their faint hopes.
Gill began the repair work with Jurel but run-scoring remained an arduous task with Sikandar Raza shuffling his bowlers, who stuck to their lengths. India managed just two fours between overs six to ten, but also lost Jurel at the end of this period; he was caught at extra cover, deceived by Luke Jongwe’s slower ball.
Sikandar Raza then landed the big blow, beating Gill all ends up. He got the carrom ball to land on a length and had the Indian captain playing down the wrong line with the ball smashing into off pole. India were reduced to 47 for 6 in 10.2 overs, which soon became 61 for 7 in the 13th. Avesh and Washington then eased the nerves briefly with an 18-ball 23-run stand but when Avesh smashed a knee-high Masakadza full toss to long-off, Zimbabwe could already taste victory.
Washington falls at the final hurdle as India lose by 13 runs
Avesh was the next lower order batter to threaten the hosts with a flurry of boundaries but he too was stopped in his tracks before he could cause some massive damage. Sikandar Raza then put his side in pole position when Mukesh failed to bat out the final two deliveries of the 17th over. With 30 runs to get, India finally hit their first six of the innings when Washington deposited one over deep midwicket which was then followed by a four.
The allrounder managed to retain the strike with a single from the final delivery of the over. But with 18 needed off 12, Muzarabani and Chatara kept Washington at bay, thus building the pressure. With the equation coming down to 14 off 3, Chatara got the job done off the penultimate delivery to give Zimbabwe a memorable win.
Sikandar Raza castled Mukesh for his third, and even though Washington took Jongwe for 12 in the 18th over, the odds were in favour of the hosts. With Washington turning down singles, Muzarabani only conceded two off the penultimate over before Chatara closed out the game. This was just Zimbabwe’s third win in nine T20Is this year.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Shubman Gill the loosing skipper said : We bowled pretty well, we let ourselves down in the field. We were not up to standard and everyone looked a bit rusty. We spoke about taking time and enjoying our batting but it didn’t pan out that way.
Halfway through we had lost 5 wickets, would’ve been best for us if I stayed there till the end, very disappointed with the way I got out and the rest of the match panned out. There was a bit of hope for us but when you’re chasing 115 and your no.10 batter is out there, you know something is wrong.
Sikandar Raza the Player of the Match and winning skipper said : Feel really happy about the win. Need to take one game at a time. The job is not done, series is not over. World champions play like world champions so we need to be ready for the next game. This isn’t a wicket where you get bowled out for 115. Credit to the bowlers of both sides. Clearly an indication we need to up our skills.
I said I don’t care about the result as long as we could be true to the crowd and changing room, we had our plans, we stuck to it and we backed our guys. Our catching and ground fielding was amazing but we did make some errors, shows there’s room for improvement. We knew the fans would lift us up and give us energy, credit to them, it helped us.
Famous win for Zimbabwe here as they’ve shocked this inexperienced Indian line-up. India fall short by 13 runs when they had only 116 to chase. They’ll be mighty disappointed with this. Earlier, led by Bishnoi’s 4-fer, India restricted Zimbabwe to a 115/9. With Zimbabwe 9 down, Madande and Chatara shared a 25-run stand for the last wicket with Madande scoring all of the runs. As it turns out, those runs scored by Madande right at the end proved to be the difference.
Yet, India would’ve backed themselves to get these runs. Things started very poorly though and the Indian batters will look back on their shot selection. Debutants Sharma and Parag failed to impress, Gaikwad got a peach and Rinku was bounced out – all inside the powerplay. With 4 wickets down that early, India were always playing catch-up.
Gill looked good while he was out there but was undone by Raza. It was only downhill from that stage as the asking rate kept shooting up while India continued to lose wickets. It all came down to Washington Sundar who had a slim opportunity to bail India out but with 30 needed off the last 3 overs with just 1 wicket in hand, it was too tough an ask.
India’s post T20 World Cup party hit a snag as Zimbabwe handed them their first defeat in T20Is in 2024. Having been restricted to 115 for 9, the Zimbabwe bowlers came out with gusto, picking up wickets at regular intervals to bowl India out for 102 in 19.5 overs. This, of course, was India’s second-string T20I line-up – the first-choice squad is getting some time off a week on from the World Cup final in Bridgetown.
Tendai Chatara and Sikandar Raza starred with the ball, picking three wickets apiece as India collapsed in a hurry much to the delight of a Harare crowd – Harare Sports Club was packed to the rafters.
India handed debuts to Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel and had no hesitation in bowling first after winning the toss. Zimbabwe started well but Ravi Bishnoi with a T20 career-best of 4 for 13 and Washington Sundar (2 for 11) orchestrated a collapse. At the halfway stage, it seemed like an easy enough chase, but the Zimbabwe bowlers had other ideas.
Abhishek fell for a four-ball duck, Ruturaj Gaikwad for 7, Parag’s debut lasted three balls and Rinku Singh lasted all of two, as India lost four wickets inside five overs. And when Sikandar Raza cleaned up Shubman Gill for 31, the whole of Harare believed.
India needed 16 off the final over with one wicket in hand but still hoped to get through with Washington still around. Chatara, however, bowled a nerveless 20th, conceding just two runs off four balls and claiming Washington off the fifth to spark wild scenes in Harare. This is the lowest total ever defended against India in a T20I, and the lowest against anyone in Harare. It was Zimbabwe’s first against India in any format since 2016.