Led by Sanju Samson‘s second T20I half-century and Mukesh Kumar career-best efforts, India registered a comfortable 42-run win over Zimbabwe on Sunday at the Harare Sports Club to complete a 4-1 win in the five-match series. After having posted 167 for 6, India bundled out Zimbabwe for 125. Sanju Samson stole the show with an half century before Mukesh Kumar took a 4-fer his career best figures to dismantle Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe kept India to a par total of 167 despite a half-century from Sanju Samson, and they took the upper hand in the chase after a strong powerplay. However, Mukesh Kumar, Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube hit back with the ball to sniff out any chance of a Zimbabwe victory, and India sealed a 42-run win to complete a splendid series turnaround in Harare after losing the opening fixture of the series.
Pitch and Toss
Same pitch as Saturday. It remains a belter. If you give width, batters will take full toll. It looks quite hard, very few footmarks on display. 150 is not enough, 180 would make for a great game.
Sikandar Raza won the toss and chose to bowl first with Tendai Chatara being replaced by Brandon Mavuto. Shubman Gill the Indian skipper batting first made two changes in the squad bringing in Mukesh Kumar and Riyan Parag for Ruturaj Gaikwad and Khaleel Ahmed.
India lose top 3 in the Powerplay
Yashaswi Jaiswal got the Indian innings going with two sixes off the first two balls, one of which was off a no-ball. Nonetheless, Zimbabwe struck back quickly. Jaiswal was cleaned up by Sikandar Raza in the opening over, and Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma joined him back in the dugout in the Powerplay itself after steady starts.
After Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza won the toss for the first time all series, he sent India in. Yashaswi Jaiswal began with two sixes off the first two balls of the match, including one off a Raza no-ball, but the opener could not maximize his start, and was bowled in the first over itself.
That brought in Abhishek Sharma, but his stay was brief too, Blessing Muzarabani getting him caught behind with a length ball angling across him. Shubman Gill followed Abhishek to the hut when a Richard Ngarava short ball got big on him, and he sliced a mis-hit to mid-on.
Sanju Samson, Parag steady Indian innings in the middle overs
With the top three blown away quickly, Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag steadied the Indian innings with a fairly conservative approach. The ball did nip around a bit as the Indian batters controlled their aggression. They didn’t manage to find a four through the middle period, but did give the occasional every over. Brandon Mavuta faced the brunt of this attack as he was carted for four sixes, including twice off successive deliveries by Sanju Samson in the 12th over.
The three top-order wickets left India at 44 for 3 after the powerplay and forced a rebuild from No. 4 Sanju Samson – he was pushed up in Ruturaj Gaikwad’s absence – and No. 5 Riyan Parag, who was batting for the second time this series. They batted together for 56 balls, and even though they added only 65 for the fourth wicket, they ensured India arrested a potential collapse. Parag made a 24-ball 22 and was out to leg spinner Brandon Mavuta when he tried to up the scoring rate.
Sanju Samson, though, made full use of the time he took to get going. At one stage he was on 17 off 18 balls, but when Mavuta bowled in his arc, he capitalized to up the scoring rate. Samson struck four sixes in all, and just the lone four, and when he fell in the deep in the 18th over trying to take Muzarabani on, he was out for a 45-ball 58.
Shivam Dube provides late flourish as India finished 167 for 6 after 20 overs
With 15 balls to go and India at 135 for 3, the base was set for an aggressive finish. Dube ruined Ngarava’s economy rate by smacking him for 4, 6, 4 in the 19th over in his 12-ball cameo of 26, and Rinku Singh hit a six in the 20th to ensure India finished above 160. Muzarabani picked up 2 for 19 in his four overs, and was the best of the five bowlers used by Zimbabwe.
Even as Sanju Samson was dismissed soon after scoring his half-century, Dube took over the mantle of the attack in the company of death-over specialist Rinku Singh. Dube deposited a low full toss by Ngarava over long on and Rinku deposited Faraz Akram straight down ground for a six.
Marumani, Myers put Zimbabwe on track as Mukesh Kumar strikes on return
Despite losing opener Wesley Madhevere for a duck in the opening over, Zimbabwe kept a positive approach in the chase. Brian Bennett hit a couple of crisp boundaries off Tushar Deshpande before becoming Mukesh Kumar’s second victim in the powerplay. Tadiwanshe Marumani and Dion Myers took the attack to Ravi Bishnoi and picked up 16 runs in the last over of the Powerplay.
Back in the XI for the final game of the series, Mukesh continued his habit of striking early, taking his third first-over wicket in three outings. This time, Wesley Madhevere was the victim, chopping on off a ball that moved into the right-hand batter sharply to fall for a duck.
Mukesh added a second when he tempted Brian Bennett (10) to play over the off side with a full ball swinging away, but the No. 3 could only slice to deep backward point, leaving the hosts 15 for 2 in the third over.
Mukesh could have had a third, pegging back Tadiwanshe Marumani’s stumps after a tidy spell to the left-hander from around the wicket, but he had overstepped, and it briefly looked like an expensive mistake as Marumani and No. 4 Dion Myers (34) attacked seamer Tushar Deshpande and wrist spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
They went particularly hard against Bishnoi, a player Zimbabwe have struggled against all series, and the wrist spinner began with a 16-run sixth over that took Zimbabwe to 47 for 2.
India strike back with quick wickets in the middle overs
India pulled the momentum back in the middle period with regular strikes. The spin trio of Bishnoi, Abhishek and Washington Sundar, along with Dube’s medium pace proved too difficult for the Zimbabwe batters to put away. After the set batters, Marumani and Myers departed, Raza was sent back courtesy a direct by Dube from short fine. To complicate the chase further, Jonathan Campbell pulled Dube straight to the deep square leg fielder in the next over, making it three wickets in as many overs, which derailed the chase.
Washington took the ball after the powerplay, and struck in his second over from around the wicket to Marumani, who was lbw trying to slog across the line. That dismissal forced a slowdown, allowing India to drag the game back into their favour with Bishnoi and Washington controlling proceedings.
Dube chipped in with a solid shift, picking up a wicket apiece in the 13th and 15th overs, both with short balls. He first dismissed Myers, and then had Johnathan Campbell holing out. In the over in between, he ran Raza out with a direct hit at the bowler’s end. All this left Zimbabwe struggling at 90 for 6.
Faraz counterattacks but ZIM fall short as India wins series 4-1
Faraz Akram went on the offensive against the Indian bowlers, but by then the requirements had pushed the target far beyond Zimbabwe’s reach. Moreover, Mukesh Kumar returned to snap two more wickets in the death overs to ensure that Zimbabwe were bundled out with nine balls to spare.
Dube eventually finished with 2 for 25, while Abhishek and Deshpande also picked up a wicket apiece with the game going out of Zimbabwe’s grasp. Faraz Akram (27 off 13) entertained the home crowd with two fours and two sixes late in the innings before being caught behind off Mukesh in the 19th over. No. 11 Ngarava then had no answer to a full, fast delivery, and Mukesh finished with his best T20I figures – 4 for 22.
Dube was adjudged Player of the Match for his 12-ball 26 and 2 for 25. Washington claimed the Player-of-the-Series trophy for his eight wickets at an average of 11.62 and an economy rate of 5.16. Sunday’s victory was India’s fourth win in a row, all completed in comfortable fashion.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Sikandar Raza the loosing skipper said : I thought Blessing bowled well the whole series. Batting-wise, we are still below-par, but we are starting to rectify the problems at the top. You are going to have bad games here and there.
The grey area for me will remain our attitude in the field, we are still making a lot of mistakes, that’s controllable, we are going to keep working hard and hopefully keep getting better. It was unfortunate that Richie (Ngarava) wasn’t fit at the start of the series.
Had he been declared fit, he was gonna play all the games. To have him fit is certainly a blessing because we all know his quality. To have Richie and Blessing … every time I was in trouble I looked up to them and they did the job for the team, really happy for those two boys. My workload needs to be managed. I haven’t played any four-day cricket in the last two years post my surgeries. My shoulder isn’t 100%, I don’t want to be a guy who just gets a jersey.
I need to go back, respect my domestic cricket and also respect my domestic cricketers who have put a lot of runs. I will go back to play domestic cricket and test my own fitness. I am still available for Test match cricket but at this point of time, I am not because I haven’t played a lot of four-day cricket. I’ll leave for Manchester for The Hundred in a few days time, I am looking forward to that.
Shubman Gill the winning skipper said : Excellent series. The hunger that we showed after the first loss was phenomenal to watch. Lot of the players had long flights, they weren’t used to the conditions. The way they adapted was remarkable. I have been there (Sri Lanka) once for Asia Cup, looking forward to go there and performing.
Shivam Dube Player of the Match for his all round show said : It’s always a special thing to contribute in both departments. Took some wickets, very happy. In T20s, you can struggle but one shot and you can get back. The ground is big, we enjoy playing here, the atmosphere and the people are amazing.
Washington Sundar Player of the Series said : Good to have finished with a win. After the first game, the conditions were similar to South Africa getting that extra bounce and extra pace. We had enough time to get a lot of information. Lot of takeaways and learnings, I bowled a lot in this series. We had a lot of success as a team.
Another convincing win for the visitors. After losing their top three inside the powerplay, they managed to post 167 on the board, thanks to Sanju Samson’s half-century and cameos from Dube and Rinku. In reply, Zimbabwe lost two quick wickets as Mukesh Kumar struck twice in two overs with the new ball. He cleaned up Myers as well in his 3rd over but that turned out to be a front foot no-ball.
Myers and Marumani took the attack to Bishnoi but the left-handed openers was trapped lbw by Washington Sundar. Even though the asking rate was increasing, Zimbabwe were in the hunt at the halfway stage. But the hosts lost a flurry of wickets as they slipped from 85/3 to 94/7 which also included Raza’s run-out. Faraz Akram played a little gem but his 13-ball 27 only helped in Zimbabwe reducing their margin of defeat.
Gill collects the trophy and joins his team-mates. They scream in joy as they pose with the CHAMPIONS hoarding. India 4 – 1 Zimbabwe. After a below-par batting performance in the opening T20I, this young team bounced back in style to win four on the bounce. The inexperienced Zimbabweans made a lot of fielding errors and their batsmen failed to put the Indian bowlers under pressure.
Curtains down on this five-match T20 series. India’s next assignment is against Sri Lanka away from home for three T20Is followed by three ODIs. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, will be touring Ireland for a one-off Test match in Belfast.