India came back from a defeat in the opening game with a bullish 100-run victory over hosts Zimbabwe in the second T20I in Harare. Abhishek Sharma‘s 46-ball hundred, the joint third-fastest by an Indian in T20Is, helped Shubman Gill’s side rack up 234/2 after opting to bat, the highest total against Zimbabwe on what Ruturaj Gaikwad reckoned was a “tough” and “two paced” surface. Abhishek Sharma surely with his 100 proved that his IPL heroics is not a fluke and he is set for a bright future.
Abhishek Sharma’s innings. The whirlwind knock, which featured 7 fours and 8 sixes, belied the nature of the used pitch on which the teams operated and helped India move past a mediocre PowerPlay and set the stage for the likes of Rinku Singh to do what they do so well. As many as 160 runs were scored in the final 10 overs, the most by a Full Member team in T20Is.
Pitch and Toss
Same pitch that was used yesterday. The Indian players struggled to adapt to the conditions yesterday. Spinners bowled in the good length area. The wickets are coming from a back of a length on this pitch. The fuller the ball, batting becomes much easier.
Indian skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and chose to bat with Sai Sudarshan coming in place of Khaleel Ahmed in the Playing XI. Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza bowling first made no changes to the Playing XI.
Shubman Gill falls early in the Powerplay
Abhishek Sharma opening his account with a six was a sign of things to come but Shubman Gill’s early wicket perhaps meant that the fireworks had to wait. The wicket-maiden from Blessing Muzarabani, that saw Gill dismissed and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s return chance dropped, was the highlight of the first six overs which were largely about India steadily recovering from losing their captain early on.
On Saturday, Zimbabwe had opened the bowling with Brian Bennett, deploying his offspin against India’s left-hand debutant, and that had brought a first-over wicket-maiden with Abhishek Sharma out for a duck. The same match-up kicked off the second T20I after India opted to bat, and Abhishek Sharma got off the mark in international cricket off the first legal ball he faced, pulling it for six.
It was a sign of what was to come, but it also wasn’t. International cricket isn’t necessarily a better standard than the IPL, but it can be very, very different. This was a Harare pitch with a bit of spongy bounce and seam early on, and Zimbabwe’s attack used it well in the powerplay to keep India to 36 for 1.
Shubman Gill fell in the second over, chipping Blessing Muzarabani straight to mid-on, and the towering quick was Zimbabwe’s best bowler in the early stages, troubling Ruturaj Gaikwad in particular with his lift and movement in the corridor. Abhishek Sharma took time coming to grips with the conditions too, and at one point was batting on 27 off 23 balls.
Then he looked to clear his front leg and hit Luke Jongwe’s nibbly medium-pace over the top, and miscued it high in the air over the mid-off region. Wellington Masakadza got under it, and put it down.
Ruturaj, Abhishek Sharma shine with the fireworks in the middle overs
That the duo was able to put on a 137-run stand, the highest partnership by India against Zimbabwe, was of course down to a lot of skill and power-hitting but also some luck. Abhishek Sharma was on 28* off 24 when he was dropped by Wellington Masakadza at long-off but the opening batter didn’t look back after that. He got to his fifty off 33 balls, laying into Sikandar Raza and Dion Meyers in the process, the latter conceding 28 runs in a single over.
Abhishek Sharma would take only 13 more balls to get to his maiden T20I hundred, getting to the milestone with a hat-trick of sixes against Masakadza. He would fall next ball, caught at backward point, but the damage had been done. All the 7 sixes during this phase was hit by Abhishek Sharma, with Ruturaj proving to be the ideal steady foil at the other end.
From that point on, Abhishek Sharma was unstoppable, clattering 72 runs in his last 23 balls at the crease, hitting five fours and seven sixes in that time. Suddenly, the conditions ceased to bother him. He was rocking back to marginally short balls and pulling with fierce power. He was stepping out and freeing his arms gloriously to loft over the covers. A modest Zimbabwe attack, suddenly, was looking like what it was.
There was another drop along the way, Tendai Chatara running to his right from long-off and getting only the heel of his palm to a lofted drive off Sikandar Raza, when Abhishek Sharma was on 77 off 40.
Zimbabwe were in the firing line, though, and with all the batting India had in the dugout – they had left out the left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed and included an extra batter, handing Sai Sudarshan his T20I debut – he was taking nearly every ball on. Abhishek Sharma wasn’t worried about getting out – this is why he made such an impact in the IPL even though his longest innings of the season only lasted 28 balls – and on this day luck smiled on him.
Along the way, he left a couple of bowlers nursing vivid bruises. Dion Myers’ slow-medium disappeared for 4, 6, 4, 6, 4 in the 11th over, the pick of the hits a monster pull that hit the roof beyond the leg-side boundary to bring up Abhishek Sharma’s fifty.
Then Masakadza, unfortunate both to have dropped Abhishek Sharma and to be a purveyor of left-arm orthodox, went for 6, 6, 6 in the 14th over – the last of them a one-handed swipe over backward square leg that brought up Abhishek’s century – before a miscue off the next ball ended the onslaught.
Gaikwad and Rinku pile it on as India scores record 234 for 2 in 20 overs
Or not, because Zimbabwe still had six overs to bowl and India were in the mood now. Gaikwad’s struggle against the conditions and the rust of playing his first competitive cricket since the IPL extended all the way until his 38th ball, when he brought up his fifty with a pulled four off Jongwe. He took Chatara apart in the next over, the 18th, hitting him for three fours and a six to eventually finish unbeaten on 77 off 47.
India’s main source of end-overs carnage, however, was Rinku Singh, who had been unlucky to miss their World Cup campaign while boasting an average of 89 and a strike rate of 176.23 in 11 innings at the time the squad was announced.
He was in his element here, promoted to No. 4 with the perfect entry point for his skills, slapping the sixth ball he faced for a charging six over the covers and finishing the innings with a four and back-to-back sixes off Jongwe, who ended with figures of 0 for 53 in four overs. Not what he may have anticipated when he induced Abhishek to miscue on 27.
This was the phase of play where India pulled far ahead of Zimbabwe. Their designated finisher in Rinku Singh (48* off 22) joined forces with unbeaten Ruturaj Gaikwad and rained runs in the final five overs of the innings. Gaikwad got to his fifty off 38 balls but his next 25 runs came off only 9 balls, with most of those runs coming in Tendai Chatara’s final over.
Rinku managed to hit 3 sixes against Muzarabani, the best Zimbabwe bowler on show and wrapped up the innings with back-to-back sixes against Luke Jongwe, who bowled his quota of four overs for 53 runs.
Indian Pacers among wickets in the Powerplay
Zimbabwe went hard in the PowerPlay and outscored India but that came fraught with risks and translated into four wickets. Innocent Kaia once again fell to an incoming delivery from Mukesh Kumar but the experiment to hand the new ball to Abhishek didn’t go quite to plan, the part-time spinner conceding as many as 19 runs at the other end.
Mukesh then bowled Brian Bennett in the next over after the batter had hit him for back-to-back sixes but it was really the double-wicket over from Avesh Khan that turned the PowerPlay decisively in India’s favour. Myers cut one straight to cover before captain Raza was bounced out.
If Zimbabwe had any hope going into their chase, it lay in the composition of India’s attack. Having picked the extra batter, they were playing only four frontline bowlers, which left four overs to be completed by part-timers Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag.
Abhishek Sharma isn’t a part-timer in domestic cricket, and has plenty of variations to go with his stock left-arm orthodox, but he discovered how difficult bowling in the powerplay in an international game can be, conceding 19 in the second over with Bennett in an aggressive mood. Bennett took hold of Mukesh Kumar in the next over as well, hitting him for a pair of massive back-to-back sixes – over square leg and then down the ground – but he fell next ball.
That was the second wicket Mukesh had taken with an in-ducker, after one in the first over to bowl Innocent Kaia through the gate. That sort of seam movement, with a bit of inconsistent bounce thrown in, was a defining feature of Zimbabwe’s powerplay: they scored 22 runs more than India did in that phase, thanks to Bennett’s aggression, but they lost four wickets to India’s one.
One of these summed up how challenging the conditions still were: a bouncer from Avesh Khan skidding onto Sikandar Raza as he shaped to hook, forcing him to fend a catch off the glove to the keeper.
Spinners into the act in the middle overs strangle Zimbabwe
Once the pacers had done their thing in the PowerPlay, spinners reigned supreme in the middle overs. Ravi Bishnoi, who gave away only 3 runs in his first two overs, struck in his third with the wicket of Clive Madande (lbw). At the other end, Washington Sundar was a bit less economical but just as effective, returning the wicket of Johnathan Campbell who holed out to a mistimed slog sweep. The two together bowled six overs on the trot after the PowerPlay and conceded 25 runs while picking two wickets. And that pretty much was the match.
Zimbabwe’s innings continued to flounder after the powerplay, with Ravi Bishnoi looking particularly unhittable – Johnathan Campbell, sweeping and reverse-sweeping with increasing desperation, failed to put bat on five successive balls from him, and bottom-edged the sixth into his body.
Quick wickets had Zimbabwe a massive 100 runs defeat to Indian youngsters
Once Zimbabwe lost too many wickets at the top and then couldn’t get going in the middle overs, the writing was on the wall. Opener Wesley Madhevere hung around till the 17th over but once he was dismissed, bowled by Bishnoi, the end felt even nearer. Avesh Khan then had Muzarabani caught at mid-on off a hard length ball before Jongwe sliced one to deep backward point off Mukesh.
Wesley Madhevere batted from the start of the chase all the way to the 17th over, and made 43 off 39 balls. Zimbabwe were eventually bowled out for 134 with eight balls remaining, with Mukesh and Avesh bagging three wickets apiece and Bishnoi finishing with 2 for 11 from his four overs.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Sikandar Raza the loosing Zimbabwe skipper said : The world champions will eventually play like world champions. Dropping catches today certainly hurt us today. I expected 200 on this wicket today but they got 30 runs more. Coming into the chase, I thought it would be a close game but it wasn’t to be, the top-order didn’t fire.
Blessing has grown by leaps and bounds, he is very hungry and his graph will keep going up as long as he stays fit. It’s a task we have been talking about since a long time, today we came out positive and played our shots, lot of the issues occurred due to inexperience.
Shubman Gill the winning Indian skipper said : Very happy, great to be back on the winning note back again. With the way Abhishek and Rutu batted, it was not easy especially in the powerplay, with the ball moving around but Abhi and Rutu built the innings brilliantly. Yesterday, it was more about not being able to handle the pressure, it’s a young side and many of them are new to international exposure.
It was actually good to have pressure in the first game and we knew what to expect coming into this game. We have got three matches to go and we are looking forward to them. It’s always good to have more options rather than not having options.
Abhishek Sharma Player of the Match for his 100 said : I think it was a pretty good performance by me, the defeat we had yesterday, it wasn’t easy for us. I felt today it was my day and I made it count. I feel T20 is about momentum and I took it to the end. Special mention to the coaches, captains and the team management to keep confidence.
I always feel that as a youngster if it’s your day, you have to express yourself. We were talking after every over and he (Ruturaj) said to me that you should take it on. I always believe in my ability, if it’s in my arc and even if it’s the first ball, I will go after it.
The young Indian team has stamped their authority and has showed their class today! Riding on the back of a blistering century from Abhishek Sharma, a blazing fifty from Ruturaj Gaikwad and a power-packed cameo from Rinku Singh, India posted a mammoth 234 on the board. Zimbabwe dropped a number of catches and that certainly came back to haunt them. At the halfway stage, Zimbabwe were already staring down the barrel.
Brian Bennett promised with some powerful strikes at the start but fell against the run of play. The hosts lost 4 wickets inside the powerplay and the writing was on the wall for them. The Indian spinners took control in the middle overs and choked the hosts’ batters. They were never really in the reckoning as the required run-rate crept up and they crumbled under pressure. Madhevere was sluggish and played a labored knock. Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan picked up 3-fers while Bishnoi also took a couple of wickets.
India’s first step into a new era of T20 cricket began with a stumble on Saturday, but they dusted themselves off well and truly to close out the weekend with a portentous win headlined by their most futuristic player. Abhishek Sharma, who lit up IPL 2024 with his incandescent, all-intent displays at the top of the order, gave international cricket its first glimpse of his ability on Sunday, taking Zimbabwe apart with a 46-ball century, the joint third-fastest by an India batter in T20Is.
That effort led India to 234 for 2 – their second-highest T20I total away from home – and left Zimbabwe needing to pull off their highest successful chase – they had only once hauled down a target above 199. They didn’t get anywhere near close, as India’s vastly superior bowling attack made full use of a two-paced pitch while defending a total that was well above-par. The margin of victory – exactly 100 runs – perfectly summed up the contest.
The young Indian side showcased what they are capable of today. They weren’t able to handle the pressure in the last game but they came out firing on all cylinders today. A memorable day especially for Abhishek Sharma as he was at his destructive best. The T20 World Champions certainly have a strong bench strength and it augurs well for them that more of their players are being exposed to international cricket.
It was a bad day at the office for Zimbabwe. The series is level at 1-1 and there’s a lot to play for. We can expect a tough fight from the hosts as they are a resilient side. Join us for the third T20I from the same venue on Wednesday.