Zimbabwe’s most-assured batting effort wasn’t enough to mount a challenge against India’s young IPL stars. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill made light work of a 153-run target, sauntering home in just 15.2 overs in a sensational exhibition of intent-laden batting of the kind we hadn’t seen in the series so far. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill both smashed fifties as India made light work of the target of 153 given to them by Zimbabwe.
India’s opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill delivered an emphatic 10-wicket win for India over Zimbabwe in the fourth T20I to seal the series 3-1. Chasing a modest target of 153, India looked in total control as Yashasvi Jaiswal hammered an unbeaten 93 whereas Shubman Gill remained not out at the other end on 58.
Pitch and Toss
Western side of the ground. 60m and 80m square boundaries. First look on the surface, not too much grass. It’s very hard. The challenge for the Zimbabwe batters has been picking the Indian spinners. The last game, they picked Bishnoi better. Rotate the strike a bit more, find gaps. It’s about management more than the surface. Best surface we’ve had for this series.
Indian skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and chose to bowl with Tushar Deshpande making his debut in place of Avesh Khan. Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza batting first also made one change to the squad replacing Wellington Masakadza with Faraz Akram.
India’s fifth-bowlers shine after Zimbabwe’s solid foundation
Wesley Madhevere gave Zimbabwe the ideal start by finding the boundary thrice in the first two overs, including a couple of debutant Tushar Deshpande. Zimbabwe raced to 39 in the first five overs before Washington Sundar rounded off the powerplay in tight fashion. Zimbabwe had lost at least two wickets in the powerplay in each of the three T20Is in the series before this game. Today, though, Wesley Madhevere and Tadiwanshe Marumani rode their luck to add 63 in 8.4 overs to give them a platform.
In the third over, Marumani was dropped by Shivam Dube at mid-on while on 3. He also benefited from an overthrow that went to the boundary in the same over, and Marumani appeared to change gears after the reprieve by going after debutant Tushar Deshpande, who conceded 21 off his first two overs. Gill quickly turned to spin inside the powerplay and they managed to rein in the scoring; eventually an effort to up the ante against India’s part-time bowlers, who needed to fill the fifth-bowler’s quota, got Marumani.
Off Abhishek Sharma’s fourth ball, he looked to pull and ended up hitting it towards the longest part of the boundary where Rinku Singh was waiting at deep midwicket. This allowed Gill to bring on Dube from the other end in a bid to get the fifth-bowler’s quota out of the way, but he too struck – in his first over, he had the other set batter, Madhevere, pulling a short ball to Rinku at deep square leg.
Abhishek could have had a second wicket in T20Is, but for Ruturaj Gaikwad shelving a dolly at extra cover to reprieve Brian Bennett. The missed opportunity didn’t cost India much though.
Zimbabwe lose their way in the middle overs
While the openers did bring up a half-century partnership, Zimbabwe squandered the start and let India fight back through wickets. Tadiwanshe Marumani found the fielder in his attempt to break free and Shivam Dube struck in his first over to send the other opener back to the pavilion as well. Sikandar Raza did try to up the ante with a boundary and a six but Washington put an end to Brian Bennett’s misery. A run out in the following over put the onus on Raza to deliver at the death
Sikandar Raza needed to rescue Zimbabwe as they had suddenly lost 4 for 33 after the solid opening. Having been guilty of running out Jonathan Campbell, Sikandar Raza’s industry kept the runs ticking until he flicked the switch with five overs remaining.
Sikandar Raza to Zimbabwe’s rescue as Zimbabwe ends 20 overs at 152 for 7
The Zimbabwe skipper did step up for his side, as he has done numerous times over the years. After smashing Washington for a six, Raza hammered a four and a six off Khaleel to race to 40 off just 20 balls at one point. Had Deshpande not dismissed him in the penultimate over, Zimbabwe could have gone past 160. An excellent final over from Khaleel saw them finish with a modest 152 on the board.
On 21 off 17 at that point, he launched Washington Sundar over deep midwicket for a 90-metre six, and then went after Khaleel Ahmed in his next over, hitting a four and a six. Overs 16 and 17 produced 31 as Zimbabwe charged towards 160. That they fell eight short was thanks to two excellent overs from Deshpande, who dismissed Raza for his maiden international wicket, and Khaleel. Zimbabwe had a competitive, if not match-winning, total.
Yashasvi Jaiswal breaks free in the Powerplay
On expected lines, Yashasvi Jaiswal took on an aggressive approach right from the word go. The boundary was found thrice in the very first over of the chase before Shubman Gill hit a couple of fours in the second off Blessing Muzarabani. Yashasvi Jaiswal then tore into Tendai Chatara to smash him for four boundaries as India raced to 43 in just three overs. That set the tone for the rest of the chase as India never dropped control. The last two overs of the PP were quiet but India still finished with 61.
India’s chase was kickstarted with Jaiswal hitting three fours off left-arm seamer Richard Ngarava in the first over. Yashasvi Jaiswal was in no mood to stop there, hitting Tendai Chatara for four more fours off his first over, the third of the innings. The seamers kept giving him width and he kept crashing them away through point, alternating between hitting them along the ground and playing the full-blooded cuts. India raised their fifty in just 3.5 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal contributing 39.
Ruthless openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill get the job done
Even the ever-reliable Raza couldn’t stop the onslaught as Jaiswal welcomed him with a couple of boundaries en route his half-century. Raza had to take himself out of the attack after conceding 24 in his first two overs but the bowling changes hardly made an impact. The entire attack was sent on a leather hunt throughout the chase.
Gill played second fiddle to Yashasvi Jaiswal who could have eyed a spectacular century at one point before Gill chipped in with a few runs to raise his half-century. India ended up scoring 90 runs in the middle overs and needed just two more deliveries in the 16th over to get the job done.
Yashasvi Jaiswal got to his half-century off 29 balls, and then unfurled one of the shots of the day when he sent Raza inside-out over extra cover. Having been beaten in flight, he quickly adjusted to loft him through the line and bisect the tiny gap between deep cover and wide long-off.
Gill then took over, helping himself against Faraz Akram’s gentle seam-ups in a exquisite display of hitting-on-the-up. Gill’s second straight half-century, off 35 balls, was mellow in comparison to Yashasvi Jaiswal but effective nonetheless.
As the match raced towards the finish line, the only point of interest was if Yashasvi Jaiswal could get the 17 of the 18 remaining runs needed to get to a hundred. He couldn’t; ended up 93 not out, having displayed his full range in an exhilarating display reflecting the type of intent that won India the T20 World Cup last month after 17 years.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Sikandar Raza the loosing skipper said : I think the wicket was a bit damp and we thought 160 was par. But with the way they batted even 180 would have not been enough. We keep growing and learning from each game. I think 8-10 runs more in the last 5 overs. There was a bit of kick and bounce, so we had to rein ourselves in at the start of the innings.
The heavy roller in the innings break did the trick for them, it became a beautiful wicket and they could play on the up. There is a game tomorrow and even if we lose 3-2 then we can keep our head high.
Shubman Gill the winning skipper said : Chasing was one thing we were talking about because we were not able to do that in the first T20. It feels good but the job is not done, we have one more game. This is a great team. I haven’t had the discussion with the coach and if there are any changes then I will let you know at the toss.
Yashasvi Jaiswal for his 93 runs was Player of the Match said : I really enjoyed my batting today. I had my plans for different bowlers. The ball was coming on when it was new and as it got old, it was quite slow. I enjoyed batting with Shubman. Initially I was thinking to take on the bowlers and as the innings progressed, I thought how to build the innings and stay till the end.
This was not a stroll, it was crash, bang and wallop. Jaiswal started off in the first over itself when he smashed Ngarava for 15 runs. There was no looking back after that as the left hander took centerstage and Gill was happy to play second fiddle. They amassed 61 runs in the powerplay with Yashasvi Jaiswal doing bulk of the scoring.
Gill too started to find the boundaries and that meant there was no solace for the Zimbabwe bowlers. The score did seem below par at the halfway mark but the Indian openers made it look even more less with their aggressive approach, giving India a comprehensive win and they wrapping up the series in the process. The bowlers restricted Zimbabwe to a below par total and the openers then stole the show. They lost the first game but have come roaring back to take a 3-1 lead
Where Zimbabwe hit all of 10 fours in their 20 overs, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Gill smashed as many in their first four overs en route a ten-wicket thumping that delivered an unassailable 3-1 lead for India with one more game to play on on Sunday.