Finally, India won the T20 series against Zimbabwe today. Zimbabwe won the toss and AG Cremer captain of the team chose to field first. India team scored 138 runs in 20 overs with fall off six wickets. KL Rahul 22, AT Rayudu 20, KM Jadhav 58 and AR Patel 20. Watch India tour of Zimbabwe 2016 Highlights Online Free, 3rd T20I: Zim v Ind at Harare, Wednesday, June 22, 2016.
Zimbabwe have never been victorious in a multi-match T20I series. They had a chance to do this with a chase of 139, and a nerve-wracking last over from Barinder Sran got them within one hit of victory. However, Elton Chigumbura was only able to muster enough force and elevation to hit a low, wide full-toss into the hands of extra-covers with four needed off the final ball.
India, who was never really convincing, won the series 2-1 and by a margin of three runs. Sran had impressed with his new-ball swing up until this match, but he had never truly been put under pressure. For the first time on the tour, India was now defending 138 while bowling second. Several batsmen from Zimbabwe had made quick starts, but none of them had continued.
With Timycen Maruma and Chigumbura at the crease, both batting at 12, they now needed 21 off the last over. With a tremendous leg-side blow off Jasprit Bumrah in the last over, Maruma had sliced six off the mark. Now, Sran hit a length ball that Maruma clobbered over the midwicket boundary after clearing his front leg once again. Subsequently, Sran introduced both square and fine legs into the circle.
He aimed to prevent Maruma from scooping the ball over the infield, but instead he angled it too wide outside off stump. With the pressure applied firmly, there was a high full-toss that gave room for a slap to the cover boundary. No ball, nine runs off five balls, one free hit remaining. Sran used his death-bowling acumen at this moment, launching three consecutive wide yorkers that were all there or very close to it: dot, dot, single.
Chigumbura sprinted down the pitch, slogged, and blazed a fortuitous edge to the third man boundary when eight players were off two. Similar to the first ODI of India’s trip to Zimbabwe last year, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had to bowl to Chigumbura with six balls remaining to get off the final ball. Despite being batting on 103 at the time, Chigumbura could only manage a single and was unable to gain any height on a yorker.
Although Sran’s yorker wasn’t quite perfect, he could still deny Zimbabwe and Chigumbura with his full-toss. Kedar Jadhav’s 58 off 42 balls, his first half-century in T20Is, lifted a batting lineup that was struggling early on on a pitch that had a decidedly low bounce and uneven pace. Some balls skidded, some stopped, and the batsmen realized that a stump-to-stump line was pretty tough to score against. This helped India reach 138 to defend.
India were 27 for 3 as Jadhav entered the field, with both openers already out of the game due to Manish Pandey’s first-ball run-out. For the fourth wicket, Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu combined 49 runs at precisely one run each delivery. The circumstances and Zimbabwe’s usage of them kept both batsmen quiet until Rayudu sprinted down the field, got too close to Graeme Cremer’s legbreak, and holed out to long-on.
After that, Neville Madziva and Tendai Chatara bowled three calm overs, giving up only fifteen runs. Donald Tiripano took advantage of the pressure his seam-bowling teammates created by forcing MS Dhoni to slog past the line and inside-edge onto the stumps. While this was going on, a bail flew into Dhoni’s helmet and struck him near his right eye; while India fielded, backroom workers would periodically come on to give eye drops.
India looked to be drifting at 93 for 5 in the 17th over, but Jadhav turned things around the following over, launching his first ball out to Chatara for a clean, straight six and then staying back to one that was just short of a yorker length to cut it to the point boundary. To reach his half-century, Jadhav finished the over with an inside-edged flick into his pad that sprinted away to the fine-leg boundary.
Jadhav was removed by Tiripano in the 19th over when he skillfully changed pace, while Axar Patel maintained the momentum into the last over by hitting Madziva for six overs long off. It was hardly the highest total, but 139 on this surface would require some strong batting from Zimbabwe. They did this in spurts, never deviating from their plan, but losing wickets frequently enough to keep India in the match.
Zimbabwe’s XI saw Vusi Sibanda replace Sikandar Raza at No. 3, and he immediately provided them momentum by hitting Dhawal Kulkarni for two consecutive fours in the fourth over, followed by a slap to the cover boundary. They were 38 for 1 at the end of the fifth. Zimbabwe was subdued by Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, and the expansive post-Powerplay fields. In the ninth over, while attempting to swipe a stump-to-stump ball, Hamilton Masakadza.
Who had progressed to 15 off 20, was caught leg before wicket by Axar’s left-arm spin. After that, Kulkarni exacted his revenge on Sibanda by nipping one back to catch him tumbling, forcing Zimbabwe, who were 60 for 3 in the eleventh over, to restart from scratch. Yuzvendra Chahal frequently made lengthy leaps to relieve the burden. After Sibanda had previously removed him for four, Peter Moor hit him for sixes in the twelfth and fourteenth overs.
He then backed it up with a crisp lofted ball over extra-cover. However, he was dismissed in the same over, and Zimbabwe needed 35 runs from the final three overs when Bumrah and Axar returned for three more tight overs. Malcolm Waller, whose uppercut off Kulkarni had looked certain to go for four, was then dismissed by Bumrah, who made a breathtaking, leaping catch at short third man. Maruma and Chigumbura could only get three runs off that over. Maruma’s thunderous six off Bumrah kept Zimbabwe in the match, narrowly, and set the tone for an exciting finish to the trip.
India in Zimbabwe T20I Series – 3rd T20I
T20I no. 560 | 2016 season
Played at Harare Sports Club
22 June 2016 (20-over match)
India 138/6 20 overs
Zimbabwe 135/6 20 overs
India won by 3 runs
