Brian Bennett's maiden wicket in the first over, Three wickets each from Sikandar Raza and Tendai Chatara helped Zimbabwe win a hard-fought match by 13 runs against T20 world champions India, despite a Ravi Bishnoi's four wickets and Washington Sundar's fighting 27 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the first T20 international match at Harare.
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| Blessing Muzarabani celebrates a wicket with his teammates © Associated Press |
Zimbabwe vs India 1st T20I at Harare Sports Club, 06th July 2024 - Tendai Chatara and Captain Sikandar Raza's brilliant performances helped Zimbabwe beat India in a low-scoring match as the hosts defended 115 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match T20I series in Harare.
India's victory post the T20 World Cup came with a jolt when Zimbabwe handed them their first T20I defeat in 2024. After being bundled out for 115 for 9, Zimbabwe's bowlers batted with vigour and picked up wickets at regular intervals to bowl India out for 102 in 19.5 overs. Arguably, this was India's second-strongest T20I line-up - the first-choice team has had a week's rest from the World Cup final in Bridgetown.
Tendai Chatara and Sikandar Raza bowled superbly, taking three wickets each to collapse India's innings quickly, much to the delight of the Harare crowd - the Harare Sports Club was packed to the brim.
India gave debuts to Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel and showed no hesitation in bowling first after winning the toss. Zimbabwe started well, but Ravi Bishnoi's T20 career best 4 wickets for 13 runs and Washington Sundar (2 wickets for 11 runs) blew the team away. At half time it looked like the target would be easy to chase, but Zimbabwe's bowlers had other plans.
Abhishek was out for a four-ball duck, Ruturaj Gaikwad was out for 7, Parag's debut lasted three balls and Rinku Singh lasted two balls as India lost four wickets inside five overs. And when Sikandar Raza dismissed Shubman Gill for 31, the whole of Harare started believing.
India needed 16 runs in the final over with one wicket left but had hopes of a win with Washington still around. However, Chatra bowled a brilliant 20th ball, giving away just two runs off four balls and dismissing Washington off the fifth ball to create a sensation in Harare. This is the lowest ever score in T20Is against India and the lowest against any team in Harare. This was Zimbabwe's first score against India in any format since 2016.
With too many bowlers not giving Zimbabwe many chances at half-time, the bowlers found their length from the start. Raza opened the bowling with two spinners - Brian Bennett and Wellington Masakadza - and his decision was immediately proven right; Abhishek top-edged Bennett to deep backward square leg in the very first over.
Blessing Muzarabani edged Gaikwad to slip before Chatra took two wickets in three balls to completely destabilise India. Parag's on-the-up drive went only to mid-off while Rinku could only top-edge a well-directed bouncer that bounced straight to short fine leg for a simple catch. India looked to be in trouble after losing 4 wickets for 28 runs after six overs.
Gill joined Jurel to begin the repair work, but runs remained hard to come by as Raza changed his bowlers, who stuck to their lengths. India managed just two boundaries between the sixth and tenth overs, but lost Jurel towards the end of this period as well; deceived by a slower delivery from Luke Jongwe and caught at extra cover.
Raza struck a big blow by outplaying Gill in every way. He made the carrom ball land on a length and forced the Indian captain to play on the wrong line, which led to the ball hitting the off pole. India were reduced to 47 for 6 in 10.2 overs, which soon became 61 for 7 in the 13th over. Avesh and Washington then eased the tension for some time by sharing 23 runs in 18 balls, but Zimbabwe tasted victory when Avesh hit Masakadza's full-toss to long-off.
Raza gave Mukesh his third wicket and even though Washington dismissed Jongwe for 12 in the 18th over, the odds were in the hosts' favour. After Washington refused to take a single, Muzarabani conceded just two runs in the final over before Chatra wrapped up the game. It was Zimbabwe's third win in nine T20 matches this year.
Zimbabwe got off to a great start to their innings when Wesley Madhevere hit a boundary off Khalil Ahmed. However, their joy was short-lived as Mukesh Kumar uprooted the leg stump of Innocent Kaia off the very first ball of his spell (second over of the innings).
Bennett and Madhevere got Zimbabwe moving quickly. Bennett started with a sharp square drive and then picked up four more with a thick outside edge over second slip. Khaleel was then dismissed for 17 in the fifth over between the two batsmen, albeit a streaky one. Bennett got a lucky boundary over first slip before Avesh capitalised on a relatively easy chance at deep third. Madhevere then pushed Khaleel over midwicket and then got another edge over slip, leaving Zimbabwe at 40 for 1 after five overs.
Bishnoi, with his variations, has always been a tough guy for Zimbabwe's batsmen to deal with and he immediately picked up wickets. Bowling almost completely wrong - 22 of his 24 balls were wrong according to ESPNcricinfo's log - he started by dismissing Bennett for 22 off 15 balls. It was a bail-trimmer. In Bishnoi's next over, Madhevere was sent back - he missed a slog sweep and had his off stump broken.
Raza hit a magnificent six off Avesh and added 23 runs off 24 balls for the fourth wicket with Dion Myers. But his wicket triggered a huge collapse. From 74 for 3 in the 12th over, Zimbabwe were reduced to 90 for 9 in the 16th over, with Bishnoi and Washington playing the most destructive roles.
Raza suffered a torrent of blood after holed out at deep midwicket off Avesh. A complete breakdown in communication led to Johnathan Campbell being run out off the first ball, after which Washington picked up two wickets in a row. He first had Myers caught and bowled and then Masakadza stumped off the first ball. Jongwe survived the hat-trick ball, but was trapped LBW off Bishnoi in the next over.
Bishnoi picked up his fourth wicket by dismissing Muzarabani, with Zimbabwe losing six wickets for 16 runs in 23 balls. Zimbabwe's 115-run stand was made possible thanks to an unbroken 25-run partnership for the last wicket between Clive Madande and Chatara - and how useful those runs eventually proved to be.