A confident young Indian side roars to take the first T20 by 54 runs; Zim v Ind 1st T20I Match Report

A confident young Indian side roars to take the first T20 by 54 runs; Zim v Ind 1st T20I Match Report: A young Indian side puts a spirited performance to beat host Zimbabwe in the first T20 by 54 runs. With both batters and bowlers putting up a decent effort against the struggling home side in Harare. With this loss, Zimbabwe have now lost 9 successive T20Is in their home soil.

Axar Patel (3-17) and Harbhajan Singh (2-29) does most of the damage for the visitors with the spin duo claiming five wickets among them, while chasing a modest yet reliable total of 179. Zimbabwe was totally outplayed with their batsman failing to make use of the good batting conditions in Harare Sports Club.

Chasing 179, the host started off in a fine manner with openers Hamilton Masakadza (28) and Chamu Chibhabha (23) putting up a quick 55 run stand for the first wicket in just 8 overs. Both played with lot of intensity and showed maturneness while chasing a difficult target.

Just then a collapse took over with the host being from 55 for no loss to 98/7 – that’s where the home team had lost the match. Harbhajan came to the party early to dismiss Chibhabha in first ball of his second over. In the next over Axar Patel cleaned Masakadza to complete his first scalp of the game.

Since the departure of openers, they never looked like winning the game with visitors picking wickets at regular intervals. Coventry, skipper Elton Chigumbura, Craig Ervine, Sikander Raza and Cremer all fell in no time to the keep the Zimbabweans tangling with no hope of reaching the target.

For India Sandeep Sharma exposed his nerves by conceding 15 runs in his first over. While Axar Patel brought all his Indian T20 League experience into play as he bowled with good control and claimed 3 top-order wickets. Harbhajan also looked good in his four overs conceding 29 runs for 2 wickets. Despite late blows from Madziva and Utseya, the hosts couldn’t get over the line as it proved to be too late. With the home side ending on 124 for 8.

Earlier, Ajinkya Rahane’s decision to bat first on a flat track was justified by the Indian batters to keep the skipper’s verdict by putting up a competitive total on the board. Vijay (34), Rahane (33) and Pandey (19) failed to convert their mediocre starts into a big one. Uthappa (39*) held one end ensured that India ended on a high. With India finishing on 178 for 5 in their 20 overs.

The Zimbabwean bowlers were wayward giving away easy boundary deliveries to the Indians, while the matters got worse with Charles Coventry putting up a below par performance behind the stumps. As a result, the home team conceded 25 extras. Cremer was the standout bowler and he ended up as the only bowler to have leaked less than 6 runs-per-over.

BRIEF SCORES:

India 178 for 5 (Robin Uthappa 35*, M Vijay 34, Mpofu 3-33) beat
Zimbabwe 124 for 7 in 20 overs (H Masakadza 28, C Chibhabha 23, Axar Patel 3-17) by 54 runs.