India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal, right, shakes hands at the end of the T20 cricket match between Zimbabwe and India at the Harare Sports club, in Harare, on July 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Yashasvi Jaiswal’s flair was complemented by skipper Shubman Gill’s poise as young Indian team cantered to a 10-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the fourth T20 International, taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

This is the second time that India beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets after a similar-margin win at the same venue in 2016.

Jaiswal and Gill’s approach was in complete contrast as the Mumbai southpaw went hammer and tongs during his unbeaten 93-run knock while the skipper (58 not out) was ready to play the second fiddle in a chase of 153 which was completed in 15.2 overs.

The target was made to look way easier than it should have been on a track that had good bounce and carry.

Jaiswal, who had to sit out during the T20 World Cup campaign hardly looked rusty, playing shots all around the wicket.

The thumping bowler’s back-drive off rival skipper Sikandar Raza was delightful and equally stylish was the pick-up pull off Richard Ngarava for a six.

The lack of pace in Zimbabwean attack on a good wicket became home team’s undoing as the dominant Jaiswal had reached his half-century with nine boundaries when the skipper was yet to reach 15.

There was no way that Zimbabwe could have stopped the run-feast as towards the end, the bigger interest was whether the two flag bearers of Indian batting into the next decade could reach their individual milestones of half-century and century.

It was Gill, who got his fifty and that didn’t leave Jaiswal with enough runs to complete his hundred.

Earlier India’s part-time bowlers Shivam Dube and Abhishek Sharma performed commendably in the middle overs to restrict Zimbabwe to a manageable 152 for seven after being put into bat by Gill.

Raza smashed 46 off 28 balls but India’s fifth bowler Abhishek (1/20 in 3 overs) and sixth option Dube (1/11 in 2 overs) produced a decent effort to keep the proceedings under control.

They removed the dangerous-looking opening duo of Wesley Madhevere (25 off 24 balls) and Tadiwanashe Marumani (32 off 31 balls) to put brakes in the middle overs.

However Raza with three sixes and two fours was the reason that Zimbabwe reached 150-plus target with almost all the Indian bowlers, save leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, entering their names in the wickets column. Medium fast bowler Tushar Deshpande (1/30 in 3 overs) was handed a debut cap but in his first spell he flattered to deceive, either pitching it too full or bowling too short.

More often than not he drifted on the pads allowing both openers Madhevere and Marumani to pick up easy boundaries.

Deshpande would feel good that he could get rid of Raza with a slower delivery in the slog overs to prevent Zimbabwe from surpassing 170 which would have been par on this track.

Zimbabwe’s best opening stand for the series in the first three games was 9 but Madhevere and Marumani added 63 in a solid stand even if it was not exactly spectacular.

However once the opening stand was broken by left-arm spinner Abhishek, who forced Marumani to mistime a pull-shot into Rinku Singh’s hands, Zimbabwe couldn’t press home advantage they had gained.

Madhevere was accounted for by Dube as he couldn’t get the required elevation and distance to a short ball. Rinku at deep mid-wicket completed formality.

Brian Bennett (9 off 14 balls), who was brilliant with the bat in the second game failed to get going before Washington sent him back. This was after Dube and Abhishek bowled wicket to wicket and kept a check on scoring.

Abhishek Sharma announced his arrival on the big stage with a breathtaking 46-ball century as India pummelled Zimbabwe by a whopping 100 runs in the second T20I to restore parity in the five-game series.

This is India’s biggest victory in terms of runs against Zimbabwe in T20Is. The young Indian side didn’t carry the baggage of a shock-13-run defeat in the series-opener as India posted a mammoth 234 for two on a track where batting wasn’t exactly easy.

The ask was already stiff and Indian bowlers got breakthroughs at regular intervals to bowl out Zimbabwe for 134 in 18.4 overs to set the record straight.

Pacers Mukesh Kumar (3/37) and Avesh Khan (3/15) removed the top-order inside the Powerplay to kill the contest which became a formality after that.

The day, however, certainly belonged to Abhishek, who mixed grace and power in equal measure in an innings embellished with eight sixes and seven fours.

The SRH batter opened his international run account with a pulled six off-spinner Brian Bennett, who had got the better of him in the first T20I.

Abhishek got a reprieve on 27 when Wellington Masakadza dropped a regulation skier off Luke Jongwe. There was no catching the youngster after that.

The shot that was most pleasing to the eye was his inside out six off rival skipper Sikandar Raza, lofting his off-break with the turn over extra cover boundary. If that was elegance personified, the manner in which he muscled left-arm spinner Masakadza into the orbit with back-to-back sixes was a testimony to his brute power.

Abhishek raised his milestone hundred when he guided a wayward full-toss on leg-stump behind the square for a maximum before being dismissed off the very next delivery.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA

Shubman Gill c Bennett b Muzarabani 2 (4b), Abhishek Sharma c Myers b Masakadza 100 (47b, 7×4, 8×6), Ruturaj Gaikwad (not out) 77 (47b, 11×4, 1×6), Rinku Singh (not out) 48 (22b, 2×4, 5×6); Extras (w-7): 7; Total (for two wkts. in 20 overs): 234.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-10 (Gill, 1.2 overs), 2-147 (Abhishek, 13.6).

ZIMBABWE BOWLING

Bennett 2-0-22-0, Muzarabani 4-1-30-1, Chatara 4-0-38-0, Raza 3-0-34-0, Jongwe 4-0-53-0, Myers 1-0-28-0, Masakadza 2-0-29-1.

ZIMBABWE

Innocent Kaia b Mukesh 4 (3b, 1×4), Wessly Madhevere b Bishnoi 43 (39b, 3×4, 1×6), Brian Bennett b Mukesh 26 (9b, 1×4, 3×6), Dion Myers c Rinku b Avesh 0 (1b), Sikandar Raza c Jurel b Avesh 4 (4b, 1×4), Johnathan Campbell c Bishnoi b Washington 10 (18b), Clive Madande lbw b Bishnoi 0 (4b), Wellington Masakadza run out 1 (3b), Luke Jongwe c Ruturaj b Mukesh 33 (26b, 4×4), Blessing Muzarabani c Washington b Avesh 2 (4b), Tendai Chatara (not out) 0 (2b); Extras (lb-2, w-8, nb-1): 11; Total (in 18.4 overs): 134.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-4 (Kaia, 0.3), 2-40 (Bennett, 2.6), 3-41 (Myers, 3.2), 4-46 (Raza, 3.6), 5-72 (Campbell, 9.4), 6-73 (Madande, 10.3), 7-76 (Masakadza, 11.1), 8-117 (Madhevere, 16.3), 9-123 (Muzarabani, 17.4).

INDIA BOWLING

Mukesh 3.4-0-37-3, Abhishek 3-0-36-0, Avesh 3-0-15-3, Bishnoi 4-0-11-2, Washington 4-0-28-1, Parag 1-0-5-0.

Toss: India. PoM: Abhishek.

India won by 100 runs to level the five-match series 1-1.

Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza celebrates a wicket during the T20 cricket match against India at Harare Sports club, Saturday, July 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

A new-look India, led by Shubman Gill, put up a sloppy batting display to lose to an inexperienced Zimbabwe by 13 runs in the first T20I of the five-match series in Harare on July 6.

Fresh from their T20 World Cup triumph, India chose to field a young side, handing three debut caps.

But the young Indian batters failed to shine and returned with eight-single digit scores to be bowled out for 102 in 19.5 overs in pursuit of a target of 116.

India were reduced to 86 for 9 in 17 overs and from there Washington Sundar (27; 34b) led India’s fightback but only to fall short.

This became India’s first loss in the format in 2024.

Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza led from the front with his tidy 3/25 from his spin bowling, while Tendai Chatara bagged 3/16 from 3.1 overs.

Earlier, India restricted Zimbabwe to 115/9 after they opted to bowl.

Wrist-spinner Ravi Bishnoi claimed a career-best 4 for 13, while off-spin-allrounder Washington Sundar snapped 2 for 11 as Zimbabwe lost six wickets for 16 runs to slip to 90 for 9 inside 16 overs.

But wicketkeeper-batter Clive Madande held the fort with a fine cameo of 29 not out from 25 balls (4×4) in an unbroken 25-run last wicket stand with Tendai Chatara.

India handed debut caps to Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel, all of them returned with single-digit scores.

Brief Scores

Zimbabwe 115/9 in 20 overs (Dion Myers 23, Clive Madande 29 not out; Ravi Bishnoi 4/13, Washington Sundar 2/11) bt

India 102 allout in 19.5 overs (Sikandar Raza 3/25, Tendai Chatara 3/16) by 13 runs.