India wrapped up the T20I series vs Zimbabwe with one game in hand as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead against the hosts with a 90-run win at Harare on Saturday. Chasing 219, Zimbabwe did not look comfortable, losing wickets at regular junctures, ultimately scoring just 129.
This was also skipper Shreyas Iyer’s first series win after taking over as India captain, having lost the previous two series vs Ireland and England. Abhishek Sharma took 3 wickets while Prince Yadav and Yash Thakur took 2 scalps each while all the others except Mayank Yadav chipped in with a wicket apiece.
Earlier, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Verma led an intent-filled batting effort with well-paced 81 and an unbeaten 60 respectively. Asked to bat first India were in early trouble at 29 for two.
But Kishan first made 66 runs for the third wicket with skipper Shreyas Iyer (25) and then a 94 for the subsequent wicket with Tilak as the tourists overcame the early wobble.
Kishan paced his innings to a nicety as he focused on giving some stability to Indian innings. The left-hander brought his fifty in 31 balls, but the next 31 runs came in 13 balls as he pressed on the accelerator.
The onside play was the hallmark of his innings, peppering the regions around mid-wicket with constant big hits.
Off-spinner Brian Bennett was clobbered for two fours to that part of the field while pacer Brad Evans was punished for 4, 4 and a 6 through the onside.
Tilak, on the other hand, doused the talks about his strike-rate for now, playing a sensational supporting innings and reached fifty in 23 balls.
The left-hander smoked Zimbabwe’s best bowler Blessing Muzarabani for three fours in a row, and the third one was a peach – a nice, little dab behind the point using the bowler’s pace. Brute power was on display too when Tilak lifted Evans for a six over mid-wicket.
Their assault was so faultless as India amassed 61 runs in the last five overs to place themselves at a safe distance from Zimbabwe at this point.
Before Kishan marshalled India’s innings around him, India lost Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi early.
Abhishek softly lobbed Muzarabani to Ryan Burl at point. Sooryavanshi looked set for another fifty reaching 20 off 9 balls that contained a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 4 off Richard Ngarava.
But Ngarava managed to extract quick revenge, as Sooryavanshi skied a into-the-body bouncer to Muzarabani at mid-on.