HARARE: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s remarkably adaptive 81 and an equally solid effort from bowlers, led by pacer Mayank Yadav, ensured India beat Zimbabwe by 35 runs in the third and final T20I in Harare on Sunday.
Along with the victory, India also completed a 3-0 sweep, a fine step-up after surrendering the previous two series to England (0-4) and Ireland (0-2).
Zimbabwe had to bat out of its skin to chase down 193 on a rather sluggish pitch. But it did not have enough patience or nous for it, ending up at 157 for seven despite Ryan Burl making a fine unbeaten 54.
Just like in the previous matches, Zimbabwe lost one too many wickets early as it could not properly use the PowerPlay.
Pacer Yash Thakur (two for 45) got rid of Dion Myers and skipper Sikandar Raza off successive balls in the fourth over as the host slipped to 34 for three.
Earlier Mayank (three for 29), who bowled with heaps of pace and accuracy, had ousted Brian Bennett on the first ball of the innings as Zimbabwe struggled for an early move-on.
It became a trend as the innings progressed despite Indians grassing as many as four catches and conceding couple of boundaries in another sloppy fielding effort.
The four wickets India picked early in the innings were enough to throw Zimbabwe off track.
Burl played a nice innings of assurance and formed a good 60-run alliance with Wesley Madhevere (28) for the fifth wicket. The Zimbabweans played some forceful shots around the park, but the early damage was too big to mitigate.
India too suffered an early jolt, losing a struggling Abhishek Sharma for two after opting to bat.
But Sooryavanshi showcased another side of his batting during the 49-ball innings on a slightly tacky pitch at the Harare Sports Club. The 15-year-old started in a relatively subdued fashion — first 10 balls produced a mere 11 runs, the next 10 saw the arrival of 15 runs, and eventually his second T20I fifty came in 31 balls.
There were a few stunning shots as one would expect in a Sooryavanshi innings.
A straight punch for a four off Brad Evans’ yorker and then a 102-metre six off off-spinner Raza showed his age-defying power and skills.
There was a moment of innovation too when he reverse swept spinner Madhevere for a boundary. But overall, it was an innings of restraint on the day from the Bihar boy.
But on the other hand, his opening partner Abhishek got out for his sixth below par score in succession, edging pacer Blessing Muzarabani to stumper Tadi Marumani.
Now, Abhishek’s last six innings read: 10, 16, 3, 1, 8, 2, dating back to the third T20I at Nottingham against England last month.
But Sooryavanshi showed enough maturity to stitch a 75-run partnership with Ishan Kishan (29) for the second wicket and followed it up with a 50-run stand with Shreyas Iyer (27) for the next wicket.
However, the left-hander fell close to a well-deserved hundred with Evans taking a stunning catch at long-off off Madhevere.
Once Sooryavanshi and Shreyas departed, the middle order batters struggled to impart the desired momentum to the innings.
It reflected in the 47 runs they scored off in the last five overs, and Rinku Singh’s cameo (25, 14b) was needed for India to move closer to 200.
PTI