ZIM vs IND 2024: Zimbabwe vs India, 4th T20I – Who Said What?

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill. (Source – BCCI)

India romped home by 10 wickets against Zimbabwe in the lopsided fourth T20I at the Harare Sports Club, on Saturday, July 13, to win the five-match series with a game to spare.

India bowled first for only the second time in the series as Shubman Gill won his fourth consecutive toss. The Zimbabwean openers got their team off to a sedate start as they added 63 runs but they were conservative with their approach, batting 52 legitimate deliveries together. The two openers were dismissed in back-to-back overs as they fell to occasional bowlers, Abhishek Sharma and Shivam Dube. After captain Sikandar Raza came out to the middle, the scoring rate picked up as he took some calculated risks against the young Indian bowlers.

However, he didn’t get much support from the other end as Ravi Bishnoi bowled a tight spell through the middle overs. In the 19th over, debutant Tushar Deshpande dismissed Raza for a 28-ball 46 and Khaleel Ahmed followed it up with an excellent last over to restrict the hosts to 152/7 in 20 overs.

Also Read: Twitter Reactions: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill shatter Zimbabwe, India seal series in Harare

The surface wasn’t exactly a flat one as the slower deliveries from the seamers were gripping in the first innings. While the 153-run target didn’t look threatening, the Zimbabweans would have hoped to put the inexperienced Indian batting lineup under pressure with a disciplined effort on the field. However, they encountered a storm that was brought to them by Yashasvi Jaiswal, who smashed an unbeaten 93 off 53 balls, hitting 13 fours and two sixes.

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Shubman, at the other end, happily played second fiddle as the southpaw didn’t spare any Zimbabwean bowler on the day. Yashasvi set the tone early in the innings as he amassed 15 runs off the first over from Richard Ngarava and there was no looking back from that point onwards. Shubman finished on 58 not out off 39 balls as the tourists raced to the target in 15.2 overs, with 10 wickets in the bank. India took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series with this win, rendering the last encounter on Sunday inconsequential.

ZIM vs IND, First T20I – Who Said What?

Winning Captain, Shubman Gill said:

Chasing was one thing we talked about. We could not do it in the first game, so good to get it done. The job is not done though. This is a great team, great bunch of players. Hopefully we will be able to take the team forward. [Changes tomorrow] Haven’t had the discussion with the coach. If there are any changes, we will let you know at the toss tomorrow.

Losing Captain, Sikandar Raza said:

I think because the wicket was a touch on the slower side, we thought 160 was a par score, but 180 wouldn’t have been enough. Today is the day you hold your heads high and say they batted better. I am very sure we will be a very competitive side in a short time. Even though the last five overs went for 54-55 we could have got more runs. There was a bit of kick, bounce and we had to reign ourselves in. They batted really well and batted us out of the game. The wicket was slightly on the slower side and it was spongy. The heavy roller did the trick for them. It became a beautiful wicket. We will want to finish the series 3-2 tomorrow.

POTM, Yashasvi Jaiswal said:

I really enjoyed today. The wicket was really good. I was trying to play my shots and I enjoyed my game. When the ball was new it was coming onto the bat. When the ball got old, it was slow. I understood and changed my game. We really enjoyed together. Initially, I wanted to go after my shots. After that, I wanted to rotate and wanted to stay till the end.