Sanju Samson’s 50 and Mukesh Kumar’s disciplined spell helped India wind up their Zimbabwe tour with a comprehensive 42-run victory in the fifth and final T20I at Harare on Sunday. With this win, India clinched the series 4-1. Samson’s (58 off 45b) was central to India’s 167 for six along with Shivam Dube’s flashy 26 (12b).
Then the India bowlers led by Mukesh (4/22), Shivam Dube (2/ 25) and Washington Sundar (1/7) did their job, bundling out Zimbabwe for 125 in 18.3 overs.
After the early dismissal of Wessly Madhevere and Brian Bennett, the pair of Tadiwanashe Marumani (27) and Dion Myers (34) added 44 runs for the third wicket to keep the hosts in the hunt.
Marumani’s switch-hit four off leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi was quite stunning in its execution. But such shots were few and far between from the Zimbabwe batters. Marumani went for a sweep shot against Washington but missed the line altogether as the ball crashed on to his upper torso to get adjudged as leg-before. Dube tailed a shuffling Myers with a quicker delivery onto his body, and the Zimbabwe batter merely chipped the ball to Abhishek Sharma at short third man.
The final nail on their hope was the run out of skipper Sikandar Raza (8), which came in a cartwheel of four wickets for nine runs. Mukesh, who bagged his career-best T20 figures, fittingly ended the Zimbabwe innings with the wicket of Richard Ngarava.
Brief scores:India 167 for 6 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 58, Shivam Dube 26; Blessing Muzarabani 2/19, Richard Ngarava 1/29) beat Zimbabwe 125 all out in 18.3 overs (Dion Myers, Faraz Akram 27; Mukesh Kumar 4/22, Shivam Dube 2/25) by 42 runs.
