Harare: Spearheaded by Mayank Yadav’s impressive 3-29, India capped off a clinical trip to Zimbabwe with a 35-run victory in the third T20I and complete a 3-0 series sweep at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday. The victory also gave new T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer his maiden series sweep as India’s captain.
Having arrived on the back of disappointing series defeats in Ireland and England, India produced a clinical all-round performance to assert their dominance. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi set the tone early with a sparkling 81 to lift India to a formidable 192/5 on a slow pitch.
In defence of the total, Mayank was clinical in using short of good length and short balls to ensure Zimbabwe were never in the hunt. Despite a sloppy display in the field that saw five chances being dropped, India restricted Zimbabwe to 157/7 to wrap up a comfortable series win.
Chasing 193, Zimbabwe’s reply got off to a disastrous start as Mayank struck with the very first ball of the innings – just like he did in the first T20I. The express pacer produced a 147kph thunderbolt that nipped away and drew an edge from Brian Bennett, which Vaibhav Sooryavanshi caught sharply at first slip.
Yash Thakur’s double-strike in the fourth over effectively derailed Zimbabwe’s chase. Thakur first outsmarted Dion Myers (19) with a clever 125kph bouncer, which the batter tamely chipped to Shreyas Iyer. On the very next ball, Thakur produced a moment of magic - getting a 143kph delivery to take skipper Sikandar Raza’s leading edge before diving dynamically in his follow-through to pluck a sensational one-handed stunning catch.
Though Ryan Burl denied Thakur a hat-trick with a crisp drive to the boundary, India seized complete control of the contest by taking three scalps in power-play. Ryan Burl and Ben Curran tried resurrecting the innings with a 31-run stand, before the latter reverse-swept to short third man off Ravi Bishnoi.
Burl and Wessly Madhevere tried reducing Zimbabwe’s pressure after four boundary-less overs with some lofty hits - the former carted Abhishek Sharma for a four and six while the latter gave the same treatment to Thakur.
The 60-run partnership ended when Mayank had Madhevere pulling to mid-wicket (and later had Brad Evans caught out at cover) and once Ashok Sharma sent Tadiwanashe Marumani’s off-stump for a walk to get his first international wicket, the writing was on the wall for Zimbabwe, with the result entirely in India's favour, despite Burl hitting an unbeaten fifty off 42 balls.
Earlier, a sensational and measured 81 off 49 balls from teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi powered India to a formidable 192/5.
Electing to bat first, India rode on Sooryavanshi’s calculated brilliance, as the young opener abandoned his typical all-out aggression for a more mature, paced knock. Blending power with precision, he hammered the Zimbabwean attack - whenever they erred - across the park for hitting eight fours and four sixes at a strike-rate of 165.31. He also shared stands of 75 and 50 with Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer before Rinku Singh provided the finishing touches with 14-ball 25. For Zimbabwe, though Brad Evans was the standout bowler with 2-41, the bowlers were majorly expensive and gave away 17 extras – 15 of which were wides.
Brief Scores: India 192/5 in 20 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 81, Ishan Kishan 29; Brad Evans 2-41, Blessing Muzarabani 1-33) beat Zimbabwe 157/7 in 20 overs (Ryan Burl 54 not out, Wessly Madhevere 28; Mayank Yadav 3-29, Yash Thakur 2-45) by 35 runs. IANS
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