India vs Zimbabwe 3rd T20I 2024 Highlights: IND beat ZIM by 23 runs in Harare

Myers has reached his half-century and impressive innings from the batter it is his first T20 international half-century and he has played a lovely knock. He handled the spinners well and managed the pacers with efficiency. India too has been sloppy with their bowling today.

This game has been a slow death for Zimbabwe they started poorly but the partnership through middle overs felt like they had a chance but once again it has tapered off. Myers seems to be an accumulator more than a six-hitter in the middle overs. 

Fabulous spell from Sundar he has picked up three wickets and most importantly broke the chase for Zimbabwe. Even though the work with the new ball was done he did not let any grips taken away through the middle overs this spell will be a huge confidence booster for him going forward. 

Khaleel has come back into the attack and bowled an exceptional over. Myers struggled to pick his slower one for the majority of the over. Khaleel is done now which makes it more interesting how Gill will manage his spinners and two overs of Avesh. 

This is turning into a threatening partnership for India at the moment. They took their time initially doing Madande and Myers however, now they are racing along. It will be interesting to see how Shubman Gill handles his cards from here he is done with the fifth bowler though. 

Bishnoi has been brought into the attack by Shubman for a second spell. Myers and Madande have now put on a 50-run stand. This is what Zimbabwe needed in this game. If they can give a good final burst it might inject some momentum into them for the next game. 

Shivam Dube has been brought into attack and he gave away 11 runs. It was gentle looseners from the bowler he pitched it short and hoped for batters to make mistakes. However, now both batters have spent some time in the middle and are used to the pace of the wicket. 

Abhishek is done with his second over this has not been as bad as the first one however, this time instead of tossing the ball up he tried to fire it in and not give batters enough time to swing through. Myers has looked good for Zimbabwe so far with the bat. 

One postive thing which is a rarity to see in modern game is the rate at which overs have been bowled. Zimbabwe in the first innings has gone through their overs quickly because of three spinners India too is getting through their overs nicely here. 

Abhishek has been introduced as the fifth bowler for India and Zimbabwe batters have stuck to their strategy and attacked him. India is playing a bowler short here today however, the problem is Zimbabwe has lost way too many wickets to even make a comeback in the game. 

Sundar has breezed through another over without a notice. While he has not been getting too many chances at the franchise level he has shown in the series he is ready to take on that number seven spot for the side for now at least in white-ball cricket.

Zimbabwe can try and build a partnership here and take the game deep to get the 130-140 mark to get some confidence up their ranks. While India looks like they are going to win the game they still need to win one more game to take the series a partnership here might give Zimababwe some momentum to work with. 

Sundar first picks up Raza who tries to whack the ball through cow corner and gets caught there and later in the over he tosses one up outside the off-stump asking Campbell to drive which the batter obligies but gets the edge straight to slip.

Bishnoi closes out the Powerplay positively for India. It has been another sorry passage of play for Zimbabwe. While there have been a few shining lights for them with the ball there has been nothing with the bat and they need an inspirational batting performance from their skipper today. 

That third over from Khaleel has been a top-class one. He kept probing away against Sikandar Raza throughout that third over and the batter kept playing and missing. Like India did with the bat India has also dominated the powerplay with the ball here. 

Sikandar Raza has walked in and positively started his innings. Avesh Khan bowled a couple of short ones which the batter picked up on leg-side for a boundary. The short ball has not worked for India India is persistent with it so far in the first few overs of the game.

Marumani was looking in good touch however, he tried to hit Khaleel over the mid-on region but got the toe end of the bat for a fielder to take a catch. As we update Ravi Bishnoi takes a stunning catch here and it is Bennett who departs now. 

It was a decent over from Avesh until the final ball where he decided to bowl one short which the batter picked up on the leg-side for a boundary. Bennett is in the middle and apart from Raza it is him who can give Zimbabwe a fighting chance here today. 

Khaleel has taken the new ball for India and bowled a decent over till the final one where he pitched a short one which Marumani picked up on the leg-side for a boundary. As we update Avesh Khan picks Madhevere. It is a very soft dismissal for the Zimbabwe opener.

It was really nice, I was really enjoying it. The wicket is quite double-paced and I think we managed well. We have played well, we had good partnerships, it’s a really nice total on this surface. We all are champions and it’s always a pleasure whenever I go back to the ground. It was incredible in Mumbai and the celebrations were incredible. (On his bowling) I'm trying my best in bowling and hopefully, I will bowl

Gaikwad was the wicket that fell in the final over however, India managed to get over 180-mark. It is a two-paced wicket and given the skill shown by Zimbabwe bowlers against Indian spinners this is 30-40 runs too many for them to chase. We will be back shortly with the chase. 

All the good work done by Muzarambani in the 18th over was undone by Ngavara as he could not his his lengths. While he had a field-setup for one ball he tried everything in a single over. India has almost reached the 180-mark which is a massive total here. 

India has gone past 150 runs now and given the way the surface has been playing once again it seems like India has already reached the par score and anything over it is a bonus. As we update Shubman Gill departs, and Muzharambani gets the breakthrough for Zimbabwe. 

The partnership has turned ominous. If it was Abhishek Gaikwad in the last game it is Gill and the latter today. While Muzrambani has been the only bowler who could trouble Indian batters there has not been least bit support from other bowlers either once again today. 

Irrespective of how skillfully superior India has been in this series Zimbabwe has been let down by their basics like fielding and executing their lengths and more importantly basic tactical errors from Sikandar Raza like not using Muzarambani with the new ball and going for spinners. 

Shubman Gill has gone past his half-century here and it has been a breezy knock by the Indian skipper. He did not look fussed with his timing after a point. He got his boundaries and rotated the strike nicely in the middle overs. Gaikwad too seems like he has come out with an attacking intent today. 

Raza has brought Madhevere into the attack here and it is a move that backfired. Both right-handers Gaikwad and Shubman Gill extracted 19 runs off the over. It was a strange move from Raza with two right-handers in to bring on an off-spinner. 

The more interesting point about this inning would be how Gill will take it from here on. He started with a couple of low scores in the series and today he got himself in. He is someone who makes big scores when he gets going. 

It was a short ball from Raza which Abhishek pulled straight to the mid-wicket fielder. Now India is in a bit of a pickle with the batting order they have chosen as of now they have gone for Ruturaj Gaikwad but would it would have been better to give Shivam Dube at this number it is something Gill would like to ponder after the game. 

Centurion Abhishek has walked into the middle and he has started well here yet again. The batter has shown he has good technique against spinners and he is exposed to spinners here yet again and he is making the most of it. As we update Raza picks Abhishek Sharma.

Productive over for Zimbabwe they have picked up a wicket the scoring also seems to be getting increasingly difficult as the ball is getting softer. It will be interesting to see how Shubman Gill will construct his innings here. Left-arm spinner Masakadza has been brought into attack here. 

Chatara was introduced by Raza after the Powerplay which turned out to be another good over for Zimbabwe the pressure is mounting on Indian openers. As we update Sikandar Raza picks up Yashasvi Jaiswal. The batter tried to reverse-sweep and hit it straight to point fielder Bennett. 

Sikandar Raza has brought himself into attack after Powerplay and delivered a good over. India did lose a bit of momentum here since the introduction of Muzarambani and now the spinners might reap the rewards. Sooner or later one of these batters needs to take chances as India bat deep.

Fabulous start for Muzarambani here yet again. Once again he has been able to hit hard lengths and make the Indian batters uncomfortable. There was also a delivery which Jaiswal chose to leave on lenght. It is a testament to the bowler how well he has operated in this series. 

Ngavara has changed ends and bowled a good five-run over. In the last two overs, Zimbabwe has gone for 13 runs stemming the flow of runs. Shubman Gill though has got himself to a start he has not looked convincing yet. However, Jaiswal has looked in sublime touch. 

Zimbabwe's fielding in the last game and today has not helped their cause either. It was Gill who played a shot to the third man which Campbell let through for a boundary. A completely unnecessary boundary was conceded by them which has taken the pressure out of Indian batters. 

Chatara started the over well however, of the final two balls he gave away a couple of boundaries which made it an expensive one. This is a destructive start by the Indian openers they are scoring at 14s. Zimbabwe need to pick a wicket here or else they might fall way behind in the Powerplay itself. 

Ngarava is brought into the attack he is playing his first game of the series and the rustiness is visible in the opening. Either he was too short or too full which Gill capitalized on. This is a flying start for India in the first two overs. Surprising to see no Muzarambani yet from Raza.

It was an expensive over to start the proceedings for Zimbabwe. It is off-spinner Bennett who took the ball against Yashasvi Jaiswal, sprayed down the ball outside leg-stump a couple of times, and then bowled a no-ball and Jaiswal smacked free-hit for a six. 

Being part of the WC squad is a dream for every player, winning was a dream come true for me. We were waiting for a long time and got the trophy now. Surely I can improve in this series, it is very important for me to express myself in all departments. The dressing room feels the same, India's dressing room is always similar because we have learnt a lot from the seniors and try to keep the same cool and calm atmosphere.

Stark difference to the pitches used in the previous games. There is some grass but it is well rolled into the pitch. There are some cracks which signal that it it pretty dry. This might be a good batting surface, but batting would get tricky in the second innings if the sun is out and it will bake the surface. 160 could be a winning total on a track like this.

Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wessly Madhevere, Brian Bennett, Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza(c), Johnathan Campbell, Clive Madande(w), Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani, Tendai Chatara

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson(w), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed

We were going to bowl first either way. The surface isn't as moist as the first, not very flat. Will see the seamers coming into the contest, and expect some slow turn. Hopefully, the boys have learnt a few lessons from the second game. We need to back our bowlers and keep them to as low a total as possible. Two changes for us. Innocent Kaia has a slight injury, Marumani is in.

We'll bat first. Hopefully the moisture will help us. We've got the WC back, Sanju, Jaiswal and Shivam are in. So is Khaleel, Mukesh rests for this one. We feel we have a balanced side

Contrastingly, the most experienced player in India’s in-transition squad is Washington Sundar with 43 caps. But Madande is realistic about his team’s prospects. “You look at all their experience in the IPL, and you realise they are a strong team though some of the World Cup winners are not here. Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Jitesh Sharma, they are my favourites in the league,” he says.

The 24-year-old knows that a clutch of impressive performances could elicit the attention of IPL scouts, and some of them could land up in the league, which has been an elusive shore for Zimbabwean cricketers. Only four Zimbabwean cricketers have ever appeared in the league, the last being Raza, who played just nine games across two seasons. “If more of us get to play cricket in franchises, the game would obviously draw more young talent to it, which would be good for the game overall in the country,” he says.

But busier days are knocking on their doors. Beginning with the India T20I series, they host all top nations, except Australia in the next cycle, and tour among other nations, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and England (for a four-day Test). “It’s a big motivation that we need to play our best and we need to play a bit harder and smarter. You get a lot of exposure and improvement. But like we showed in the series against Bangladesh, we have talent. We played good cricket there, just that we couldn’t get the results we wanted,” he explains.

In the series, Bangladesh won two T20I games by margins of nine and five runs; in the tour to Sri Lanka, the hosts eked out a last-ball thriller to win the opening game. Led by the seasoned Sikander Raza, Zimbabwe’s evergreen hero who ditched his dream of becoming a pilot to play cricket. His is not an utterly raw team, with seven of them clocking at least half a century of T20Is for their country. Some of them are familiar names too — such as all-rounders Luke Jongwe.and Wessly Madhevere, fast bowlers Tendai Chatara and Blessing Muzarbani. “Moreover, we would be playing in our backyard, there will be a lot of people cheering for us. It’s still the most popular sport in the country, and a lot of youngsters and schoolboys play this game,” he says.

Amidst the chaos, they somehow spun an odd upset or two, like beating Australia in an ODI in Townsville, in Queensland, or upending Pakistan in the 2022 edition of the World Cup. But the golden generation of the Flower brothers, Neil Johnson, Murray Goodwin and Heath Streak has become a distant memory. Many left the country, Streak passed away last year, but some, like the first Test captain Dave Houghton, have stayed back to help the new generation come through. “Guys like Houghton, Tatenda Taibu, I speak to them regularly, for advice, motivation and tips. Whenever I feel like struggling I go back to them,” he says.

Houghton’s men nearly pulled an upset over India in their inaugural Test, after his men had beaten England in a 1992 World Cup game. But from lively giant-killers they became forgotten minnows, hitting the headlines only for wrong reasons. Suspension of the board, or a former player hiding a bookie’s approach. Matches, inevitably, dried up. In the last six years, they played only 10 Tests and are not part of the World Test Championship cycle; the last time they played a top-10 ODI nation was in 2022, the subsequent years spent labouring in the World Cup qualifiers. They couldn’t qualify for the T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies, the only full member who was not part of the series.

Clive Madande remembers the day cricket became a part of his life. He was just a 12-year-old schoolboy when his father dragged him to the Harare Sports Club for a Test match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe in 2014. “It was one of the greatest days in Zimbabwean cricket. We beat Pakistan by 24 runs, and I thought well I should play this game,” the wicket-keeper batsman says. A decade later, he is one of the key figures in resuscitating the country’s lost cricketing heritage.

The defeat was perceived as a precursor of better days. Even though the victory was achieved against a side reputed to shower generosity on lower-rung teams, the country’s cricketing circle celebrated. Instead, in the next decade Zimbabwe slipped into the vortex of familiar demons. Administrative chaos, lack of infrastructure, suspension of the board due to undue interference of government, salary cuts and delayed payments, besides a general dearth in talent stalled their progress.

The template for the day was set much before Abhishek (100, 47b, 7×4, 8×6) was dismissed in the 14th over as the leather-hunting continued for the home side. Gaikwad (77 not out) progressively shifted gears along with a promoted Rinku Singh (48 not out) to add 87 runs off the last six overs, propelling India to 234 for two – their highest total against Zimbabwe.

Despite being short on a frontline bowler, India had enough ammunition to stop Zimbabwe’s pursuit 100 runs short of a gargantuan target, aberrating the abject display from last evening into an already fading memory.

The third hit required a touch of his own and a more adaptive bat swing. Left-armer Masakadza tossed in a wayward low full-toss down the legside. Abhishek deftly swung his bat across and opened it up gently at the last moment to connect the ball over the fine-leg boundary to bring up the century. It was a milestone he had given no liking to during a whirlwind IPL season with the Sunrisers Hyderabad where he had batted no more than 28 balls in any innings and yet amassed over 400 runs with a 200-plus strike rate.

While he plundered 50 runs through mid-wicket and long-on in the afternoon, it was a refreshing sight of off-side shotmaking that added to the allure of the knock, topped by two inside-out sixes over cover against Raza and Masakadza.

It only took Abhishek 13 deliveries to convert his 33-ball half-century into his maiden T20I hundred, an unprecedented waltz that made him the fastest Indian to record a ton in the format in terms of the number of innings — only his second in internationals.

A whiff of Chris Gayle was in the air when Sharma launched Masakadza for three consecutive sixes to boom from 82 to 100. The first hit, straight from the Gayle textbook, had Abhishek smother length with a similar high backlift and head partially across the line. He followed it with a prance down the strip like the mighty Jamaican, whipping another length ball off his hips over the ropes.

Biding time was crucial on a surface that aided extra bounce. While No.3 Gaikwad initially struggled to counter the uneven pace of the pitch, Abhishek dropped anchor with a steady supply of singles. Until he signalled a change of guard in the ninth over, shortly after being dropped by Wellington Masakadza on 24 at long-off. Abhishek’s intent immediately touched overdrive as he thumped Raza over wide long-off for a six.

The ball soon thudded onto the Sports Club’s green roof behind fine-leg as Abhishek devoured Dion Myers’ feeble medium-pacers. He ransacked 26 off the over — with three fours and two sixes — as India got to 102 in 11 overs, a total they had made in 20 in the first outing.

On Saturday, Abhishek’s swashbuckling blade was silenced by Brian Bennett’s off-spin in the first over of a 116-run chase. He holed out to deep mid-wicket as he aimed to open his international career with a maximum. Though he had perfected the craft on faster pitches in the IPL earlier this year, the young left-hander was quick to realise that Harare was no Hyderabad; it required a different temper to succeed.

Batting first following the modest chase on the same pitch from the other evening, Abhishek was certain to cling onto his methods but with a touch of restraint. For the sake of occasion and his wont, he ensured that the first runs off his bat were born from a maximum. The same first over and deep mid-wicket region and the same bowler in Bennett were at the receiving end of a firm pull off the backfoot. But when his senior partner and skipper Shubman Gill perished early, Sharma was happy to hold himself back throughout the Powerplay.

For a gentle fear of another collapse, India had Sai Sudharsan, a fourth opener drafted into the XI, alongside Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad. While three of them can fall under the ‘accumulator’ tag, it is Abhishek’s versatile aggression that seems to be the first stylistic positive in the void left by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

No two successive days could be more distinctly separated at the Harare Sports Club.

Sporting highs come in rationed cartridges for Sikandar Raza’s men. And so Zimbabwe would have hoped to revel in the highs of inflicting a stunning loss for India in the opening T20I overnight a little longer. But Sunday was different. A probable chapter of another upheaval was heavily suppressed by India within 24 hours at the same venue.

Gaikwad who led CSK in the IPL this year, said that captaincy has gotten him to be a bit more involved in the game but it didn’t make any difference to his batting.

“Actually, to be honest, nothing has changed much. Because my batting has been the same as before. I have to play with responsibility and try and finish it on my own,” he said.

“It’s just that the way you look at the game, I think every time you are more involved now in the game since you have captained the IPL franchise for a long period of time. So you tend to be into the game for a longer period of time instead of just staying in the boundary outside and just focusing on one ball. As I said, batting wise it’s not made much difference,” he added.

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from the T20I setup after winning the T20 World Cup in June which has opened the doors for the next generation of players to vie for those positions.

Gaikwad, the Chennai Super Kings skipper has batted at No. 3 position for India in the first two T20Is against Zimbabwe but he said he has no preference and will bat wherever the team requires him.

“No, wherever the team wants, I will bat there. There is no problem. There is not much difference between the opening and the number 3 because you have to play the new ball. So there is not much difference,” he said.

Ruturaj Gaikwad on Tuesday said it would be tough to fill the recently-retired Virat Kohli’s shoes in the number 3 position in T20Is, adding that he will just focus on making contributions with the bat, regardless of positions.

“This is a big topic and I think it’s not the right point to think about it. To even compare with him (Kohli) or try to fill in his shoes is relatively very tough and very hard,” Gaikwad said before the 3rd India vs Zimbabwe match.

Having not featured in any game during the T20 World Cup, Jaiswal and Samson could factor in for their first match since the IPL in May. While Samson could take over the wicketkeeping reins from his Rajasthan Royals teammate Dhruv Jurel. Jaiswal could slot back in as an opener alongside captain Gill. This means Abhishek could be slotted at no. 3 where he had struck two quickfire fifties during the recent IPL. Despite his unbeaten 77 in the previous game, Ruturaj Gaikwad could make way for Jaiswal into the XI.

With Dube offering a seam-bowling option, the Mumbaikar could replace Sai Sudharsan, who made his debut in the previous game but did not get to bat.