File photo of Indian cricket team.© AFP

Shubman Gill was happy to tick off the “chase” box from his skipper’s check list in an emphatic manner as he was glowing in his praise for young team comprising of “great bunch of players”. Yashasvi Jaiswal (93 off 53 balls) and skipper Gill (58 off 39 balls) hunted down a target of 153 with 28 balls to spare and the skipper expects this team to move forward in right direction. “Chasing was one thing we talked about. We could not do it in the first game, so good to get it done. The job is not done, though,” Gill stated during the post-match presentation.

“This is a great team, great bunch of players. Hopefully, we will be able to take the team forward.” With the series already in the pocket, when asked about changes in the playing XI for the final fixture on Sunday, Gill did not reveal anything significant.

“Haven’t had the discussion with the coach. If there are any changes, we will let you know at the toss tomorrow,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jaiswal was adjudged the man of the match for his commanding outing with the bat, while he admitted that he had to enjoy the decent batting turf at play on Saturday.

“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,” he said.

“I understood and changed my game. We really enjoyed together. Initially, I wanted to go after my shots. After that, I wanted to rotate and wanted to stay till the end.” Jaiswal said that for him, the more important aspect is his process of preparation. “My diet, sleeping pattern, how I am executing my plans in practice However, on the other hand, Zimbabwean captain Sikandar Raza had a contrasting take on the Harare pitch, which he felt was slow, especially when his team was put in to bat first.

“I think because the wicket was a touch on the slower side, we thought 160 was a par score, but 180 wouldn’t have been enough. Today is the day you hold your heads high and say they batted better,” he opinionated.

“The heavy roller did the trick for them. It became a beautiful wicket.” But Raza expressed his confidence in the team gaining confidence and that they would become a competitive side soon.

“I am very sure we will be a very competitive side in a short time. There was a bit of kick (and) bounce, and we had to reign ourselves in. We will want to finish the series 3-2 tomorrow,” he concluded.

Worked a lot on my cutters and yorkers: Khaleel Ahmed

Notably, Khaleel bowled quite a few slower deliveries, and the trick worked against the Chevrons, as he seized the wickets of Dion Myers (12) and Clive Madande (7) in the closing stages of the innings.

Commenting on the same, the 26-year-old thanked his stint as a reserve player for the Men in Blue during the T20 World Cup in the Americas, where he worked on his slower ones.

“I was part of the World Cup reserves, and there, I worked a lot on my cutters and yorkers. I am very happy with my performance. The kind of rhythm I have got, and the execution has been great,” he told the broadcaster following the victory.

“This series is everything for me. When I was not part of the dressing room, I was missing it a lot. Very happy to be a part of it. We have all played in the IPL; we are all together in this.”

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.

India vs Zimbabwe Live Streaming 4th T20I Live Telecast: When And Where To Watch Match Live© AFP

Shubman Gill can wrap up his first series win as India captain today as the team take on Zimbabwe in the fourth T20I of the five-match series. India head into the contest with a 2-1 lead. After a shock defeat in the first game, India bounced back in tremendous style with a 100-run win. The third T20I was a closer affair, with a valiant Zimbabwe falling just 23 runs short. Ahead of a decisive fourth T20I, let’s take a look at India’s possible XI for the game.

1. Shubman Gill (c) – The captain stays, having been India’s top run-scorer in two of the three T20Is, including a solid 66 in the previous T20I.

2. Yashasvi Jaiswal – Having returned from the third T20I, Jaiswal contributed 36 off 27 balls and will surely keep his place in the side.

3. Abhishek Sharma – The swashbuckling southpaw may have been demoted to no. 3, but there is no case for him to be dropped for the rest of the series after his exceptional century in the second T20I.

4. Ruturaj Gaikwad – The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain has quietly adapted well to middle-order duties, and narrowly missed out on a second successive half-century in the third T20I. Gaikwad is India’s leading run-scorer in the series so far.

5. Sanju Samson (wk) – Another player who joined after India’s T20 World Cup 2024 celebrations, Samson should keep his place in the XI as the wicket-keeper batsman.

6. Rinku Singh – Rinku Singh showed his finishing power in the second T20I with a 22-ball 48, and will keep his place in the side.

7. Shivam Dube – Despite playing every game for India in the T20 World Cup, Dube is expected to continue in the XI against Zimbabwe, being one of the more senior players in the squad.

8. Washington Sundar – Washington is making a great case for a regular India spot in the post-Ravindra Jadeja era in T20Is, having impressed with both bat and ball so far in the series. He finished with figures of 3/15 and won the ‘Player of the Match’ in the third T20I.

9. Ravi Bishnoi – The leg-spinner was the world’s no. 1 T20I bowler not too long ago, and will surely play every match in the series.

10. Tushar Deshpande – With Avesh Khan going for runs in the third T20I, a debut could be on the horizon for CSK star Tushar Deshpande.

11. Khaleel Ahmed – The left-arm seamer has been brilliant up front, and showed his class once again in the third T20I, giving away just 15 runs in his four-over spell.