HARARE: Middle-order batter Sanju Sam­son struck a brisk 58 from 45 balls and seamer Mukesh Kumar took 4-22 as India’s second-string touring team defea­ted Zimbabwe by 42 runs at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday to complete a 4-1 victory in their five-game T20 International series.

India captain Shubman Gill said his team, which included only three of the squad that won the T20 World Cup last month, had adapted well to conditions after losing the opening match.

“It was an excellent series,” said Gill. “The hunger that we showed after the first loss was phenomenal. A lot of the players had long flights and they weren’t used to conditions. The way they adapted was remarkable.”

After being sent in to bat by their hosts, a youthful India posted 167 for six in their 20 overs before restricting Zimbabwe to 125 all out in reply to complete a comfortable win.

The final match got off to an extraordinary start when Yashasvi Jaiswal hit sixes off the first two deliveries.

Zimbabwe captain Sika­ndar Raza bowled a no-ball full toss which Jaiswal hit over the midwicket boundary. Jaiswal took advantage of the free hit by slamming the first legal delivery over Raza’s head for another six.

But Raza fired in a quic­ker yorker and bowled Jais­wal for 12 three balls later.

India lost their first three wickets for 40 runs before Samson and Riyan Parag (22) added 65 for the fourth wicket.

Samson struck four sixes and Shivam Dube hammered an unbeaten 26 off 12 balls before he was run out at the end of the innings.

He followed up with two wickets and was named player of the match.

Tall fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani was again Zimbabwe’s best bowler, taking two for 19 in four overs. He took six wickets in the series and conceded only six runs an over.

Raza praised Muza­rabani for his consistent performances but said Zim­babwe’s batting and fielding was below par. “The grey area for me will remain our attitude in the field.”

Zimbabwe were still in the chase at 85 for three in the 13th over, but lost four wickets for the addition of 12 runs to lose momentum.

Their collapse started with the loss of innings top scorer Dion Myers for 34 from 32 balls.

Kumar was the pick of the tourists bowlers with career-best figures as he took wickets at the start and end of the Zimbabwe innings, with fellow seamer Dube taking 2-25 in four overs.

Despite playing in only three matches, Kumar took eight wickets to finish level with off-spinner Washin­gton Sundar as India’s leading wicket-taker.

Sundar, who conceded just over five runs an over during the five matches, was named player of the series.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA:

Y. Jaiswal b Raza 12

S. Gill c Raza b Ngarava 13

A. Sharma c Madande b Muzarabani 14

S. Samson c Marumani b Muzarabani 58

R. Parag c Ngarava b Mavuta 22

S. Dube run out 26

R. Singh not out 11

W. Sundar not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-4, NB-1, W-5) 10

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 167

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13 (Jaiswal), 2-38 (Sharma), 3-40 (Gill), 4-105 (Parag), 5-135 (Samson), 6-153 (Dube)

DID NOT BAT: R. Bishnoi, T. Deshpande, M. Kumar

BOWLING: Raza 4-0-37-1 (2w, 1nb), Ngarava 4-0-29-1, Akram 4-0-39-0 (1w), Muzarabani 4-0-19-2, Mavuta 4-0-39-1 (2w)

ZIMBABWE:

W. Madhevere b Kumar 0

T. Marumani lbw Sundar 27

B. Bennett c Dube b Kumar 10

D. Myers c Sharma b Dube 34

S. Raza run out 8

J. Campbell c Deshpande b Dube 4

C. Madande c Samson b Sharma 1

F. Akram c Samson b Kumar 27

B. Mavuta c&b Deshpande 4

B. Muzarabani not out 1

R. Ngarava b Kumar 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, NB-2, W-4) 9

TOTAL (all out, 18.3 overs) 125

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Madhevere), 2-15 (Bennett), 3-59 (Marumani), 4-85 (Myers), 5-87 (Raza), 6-90 (Campbell)), 7-94 (Madande), 8-120 (Mavuta), 9-123 (Akram)

BOWLING: Kumar 3.3-0-22-4 (3w, 2nb), Deshpande 3-0-25-1, Bishnoi 3-0-23-0, Sundar 2-0-7-1, Sharma 3-0-20-1, Dube 4-0-25-2 (1w)

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2024