India scored a 10-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the second Twenty20 international and level the three-match series 1-1 at Harare on Monday. India's young seamer Barinder Sran laid the foundation for the victory. Asked to bowl first by Zimbabwe skipper Graeme Cremer, a determined India restricted the hosts to 99 for nine in the stipulated 20 overs with Sran returning the best figures by an Indian debutant in T20 format. Mandeep Singh (52) and KL Rahul (47) then led the way with unbeaten knocks as the visitors chased down the target with 41balls to spare.
Sran (4-10) was ably assisted by Jasprit Bumrah, who picked up three wickets for 11 runs in his quota of four overs. Sran finished with excellent figures in his quota of four overs, which is the second best globally. Before Sran, Pragyan Ojha (4-21) against Bangladesh in 2009 World T20, held the Indian record.
The duo of Sran and Bumrah picked up seven wickets between them while giving away just 21 runs in eight economical overs. Bangladesh's Elias Sunny (5-13) holds the record for the best bowling figures by a debutant in T20I.
Zimbabwe shock India
In the first T20, Zimbabwe gave a shock defeat to India. Chasing a target of 171, India were restricted to 168 for six with seamer Neville Madziva bowling a brilliant over to give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Needing 8 off the final over, Dhoni couldn’t connect a single big shot during his sedate 19 off 17 balls.
Manish Pandey (48) and Axar Patel (18) did their bit to set it up but when it mattered the most, the little known Zimbabwean boys did it for their country. With 79 required off 42 balls, Pandey decided to take on rival captain Graeme Cremer, hitting him for two consecutive sixes as 16 runs came off the 14th over in company of skipper Dhoni. The presence of Dhoni also ensured that singles were converted into doubles.
With Pandey getting a boundary off Neville Madziva’s next over that produced 12 runs - India’s victory bid was back on track with 38 runs coming off three overs. Just when it looked that Pandey will take India home, he mistimed a lofted shot off Muzarabani’s bowling to get out for 48 off 35 balls having hit a four and three sixes. This brought down the equation to 28 off 16 balls.
However, Axar Patel hit one of the biggest sixes of the match over long-on to bring the equation down to 21 from 12 balls. A four and six off penultimate over saw Axar bring down the equation to 8 from the last over which the Indians failed to get.
India complete whitewash
India predictably completed a 3-0 whitewash by bulldozing a sub-par Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in the final ODI match in what turned out to be one of the most one-sided series in recent times. Dhoni's boys outclassed the hosts in all departments by first bowling them out for their lowest total of 123 in the series with Jasprit Bumrah grabbing 4/22 and then romping home in 21.5 overs.
Openers KL Rahul (63 not out) and debutant Faiz Fazal (55 not out) flayed with what seemed like a club-level bowling attack to guide India home. India also completed a hat-trick of whitewashes against the hosts, having won earlier ODI series by 5-0 and 3-0 margin in 2013 and 2015 when Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane led the sides respectively.
For Dhoni, there were two milestones that he achieved from the series. With 107 wins as captain, he equalled Allan Border for the second highest number of wins in ODI history behind Ricky Ponting (165).
Also he became the first Indian wicketkeeper-batsman to complete 350 dismissals in 50-overs cricket. However, there wasn't much else to draw from the three matches as it was one rare series where only four batsmen - namely openers Rahul, Karun Nair, Fazal (this match) and Ambati Rayudu - got a decent hit in the middle.
The entire middle-order - skipper himself, Kedar Jadhav, and Manish Pandey (two balls) - did not get a chance to bat thanks to the impressive effort by the bowlers led by Jasprit Bumrah with 9 wickets from 3 games.
The nature of the contest has been of very poor quality as there was only one team which had its foot on the pedal.
