Harare: India played the third match of the 5-match T20I series against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club. With the series level at 1-1, this was an important match for both the sides. India won the toss and decided to bat first.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who returned to the squad after winning the T20 World Cup was given a place in the playing XI and opened the batting alongside skipper Shubman Gill. They gave India a great start and played some beautiful shots. Jaiswal was looking in good touch, however he ended up losing his wicket on 36 to Zimbabwe captain, Sikandar Raza. Regardless, the opening stand of 67 gave India a strong start.
The batsman who in the previous match became the fastest Indian player to score a century in T20Is, Abhishek Sharma wasn’t able to impact the game much this time around on a score of 10. Ruturaj Gaikwad came in at No. 4 and formed a great partnership with Gill.
The Indian skipper went on to score his first half-century of the series before getting dismissed in the 18th over on 66. Gaikwad missed out on a well-deserved half-century as he was dismissed by Blessing Muzarabani on 49. Gill and Gaikwad’s 72-run stand carried India to a good total of 182/4 after 20 overs.
In reply, Zimbabwe had a dreadful start as they lost 3 wickets within the first 4 overs of their innings. By the end of the seventh over, the hosts had already lost half of their side on mere 39 runs. Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan took 2 scalps each while Khaleel Ahmed also chipped in with a wicket. It looked as if Zimbabwe would be bowled out for less than 100 runs, however Dion Myers and Clive Madande formed an amazing partnership to save them from another thumping.
The 77-run stand was enough to carry them over the score of 100. Madande lost his wicket on 37 but Myers went on to score an impressive half-century and remained unbeaten on 65 alongside Wellington Masakadza who also played a cameo of 18, however it wasn’t enough as India restricted them to 159/6 in 20 overs and went on to win the match comfortably by 23 runs and also took a 2-1 lead in the series. Sundar was awarded with the man-of-the-match award for his brilliant spell of 3/15. The fourth match of the series will be played on Saturday, July 13.
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