Harare (Zimbabwe) ∙ India held on for victory despite missing many catches. Shreyas and his team swept the series by winning the third T20 against Zimbabwe. India won the last match by 35 runs. Chasing the 193-run target set by India, Zimbabwe’s innings ended at 157 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs.
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India’s victory was delayed after Zimbabwe’s fielders dropped five balls. Ryan Bale (54* off 43 balls) struggled for his half-century as Zimbabwe held on throughout the overs. Mayank Yadav took three wickets, Yash Thakur took two wickets and Ashok Sharma and Ravi Bishnoi took one wicket each for India.
Batting back, Zimbabwe lost their wicket on the very first ball. Opener Brian Bennett returned with a golden duck. Zimbabwe lost two more wickets before the end of the powerplay. Dion Mayers (19 off 15 balls) and captain Sikander Raza (nil) were brought back by Yash Thakur in successive balls in the fourth over. Ben Karan and Ryan Bale tried to hold on for the fourth wicket for a while, but Ravi Bishnoi dismissed Ben Karan (20 off 19 balls) in the eighth over.
Ryan Bale and Wesley Madhaver combined for the fifth wicket to save Zimbabwe from a major embarrassment. Both of them added 60 runs. In the 16th over, Mayank Yadav broke the partnership by dismissing Madhavere. Later, Tadivanashe Marumani (1 off 3 balls) and Brad Evans (14 off 13 balls) were also out, but Ryan Bale was firmly on one side as Zimbabwe scored 150 balls.
∙ “Teenage Incident”
Vaibhav Suryavanshi proved once again that he was no ‘teenager’ even though he stumbled at times in his leap into history. In the third Twenty20 match against Zimbabwe, 15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s brilliant performance saw India score well. Batting first, India scored 192 runs for the loss of five wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Vaibhav (81 off 49 balls), captain Shreyas Iyer (27 off 18 balls), Ishan Kishan (25 off 14 balls) and Ishan Kishan (29 off 26 balls), who scored half-centuries, shone for India.
After winning the toss, India lost Abhishek Sharma at the start of the third match in a row. Abhishek (2 off 4 balls), who failed to cross double figures this time, was dismissed by Blessing Muzarabani in the second over. Next up was Ishan Kishan, who was the star of the last match. But the Indian scoreboard soared when Vaibhav smashed Ishaan, who struggled to touch the ball as a spectator. By the end of the powerplay, India’s score had reached 64. In the 10th over, Vaibhav completed his half-century off 31 balls. Vaibhav is the first player to score two fifties in international cricket before the age of sixteen. Vaibhav also scored a fifty in the first match against Zimbabwe.
Ishan Kishan was dismissed in the 11th over. Both of them added 75 runs for the second wicket. Captain Shreyass Iyer, who was following him, also gave strong support to Vaibhav. Vaibhav filled the field with sixes that flew over 100 metres. Vaibhav is entering his 15th year on his way to a century. Brad Evans caught Vaibhav off Wesley Madhaver. Vaibhav scored 81 runs off 49 balls which included 4 sixes and 8 fours. Shreyas Iyer also dropped out soon after. Rinku Singh’s knock (25 off 14 balls) in the final overs took India’s score to 190. Tilak Verma (11* off 9 balls) remained unbeaten.
∙ Two changes
Indian captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and decided to bat. India made two changes. Ashok Sharma replaced injured pacer Prince Yadav while Suryansh Shedge replaced all-rounder Shivam Dubey in the playing eleven.