Abhishek Sharma's record century in 46 balls, Ruturaj Gaikwad's brilliant 77* runs in 47 balls and Rinku Singh's 48* runs in 22 balls, India defeated Zimbabwe by 100 runs in the second T20 international match and leveled the series 1-1 at Harare.
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| Record 137-run partnership between Abhishek Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad © Associated Press |
Zimbabwe vs India 2nd T20I at Harare Sports Club, 07th July 2024 - India's first step into the new era of T20 international cricket got off to a wobble on Saturday, but they dusted themselves off well to end the weekend with a stunning win thanks to their most promising player of the future. Abhishek Sharma, who lit up IPL 2024 with his brilliant, all-intentioned displays at the top of the order, gave international cricket the first glimpse of his potential on Sunday, tearing Zimbabwe to shreds with a 46-ball hundred, the joint-third-fastest by an India batsman in T20Is.
The effort left India at 234 for 2 - their second-highest total in T20Is away from home - and left Zimbabwe needing their biggest successful chase - they had only once managed a target of more than 199. They could get nowhere close, as India's excellent bowling attack took full advantage of a two-paced pitch and defended a score that was well above average. The margin of victory - exactly 100 runs - was absolutely the essence of the contest.
On Saturday, Zimbabwe opened the bowling with Brian Bennett, who used his off-spin against India's left-handed debutant and bowled a maiden first over, dismissing Abhishek Sharma for a duck on his debut T20I match. The second T20I began after India were put into the batting and Abhishek made his mark in international cricket by hitting a six off the first legal ball.
It was a sign of things to come, but it wasn't. International cricket isn't necessarily of a better standard than the IPL, but it can be very, very different. It was a Harare pitch that had a bit of bounce and seam early on, and Zimbabwe's attack used it well in the powerplay to restrict India to 36 for 1.
Shubman Gill departed in the second over, caught at mid-on off Blessing Muzarabani, and the pacer was Zimbabwe's best bowler early on, particularly troubling Ruturaj Gaikwad with his lift and corridor movements. Abhishek too took time to adjust to the conditions, and at one stage was batting on 27 off 23 balls. He then tried to clear his front foot and hit a Luke Jongwe medium pace delivery on the top, lofting the ball in the air over the mid-off region. Wellington Masakadza dropped the ball.
From that point on Abhishek was unstoppable, scoring 72 off his last 23 balls at the crease, hitting five fours and seven sixes. Suddenly, the conditions stopped bothering him. He was leaning back at marginally short balls and pulling with tremendous power. He was moving forward and freeing his hands superbly to loft the ball over the covers. A modest Zimbabwean attack, suddenly, started looking like what it was.
There was another drop, Tendai Chatara only managed to flick the ball off the heel of his palm off Sikandar Raza running to his right from long-off, when Abhishek was batting on 77 off 40 balls. Zimbabwe's batting was in danger, though, and with all of India's batsmen in the dugout - they had left out left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed and included an extra batsman, allowing Sai Sudharsan to make his T20I debut - he was facing almost every delivery. Abhishek wasn't worried about getting out - that's why he made such an impact in the IPL, even though his longest innings of the season lasted only 28 balls - and luck favoured him on this day.
Along the way, he inflicted serious injuries on a few bowlers. In the 11th over, Dion Myers' slow-medium delivery went for 4, 6, 4, 6, 4, the best hit being a monstrous pull that sailed over the roof beyond the leg-side boundary and Abhisek brought up his half-century. Then Masakadza, who was unfortunate to leave Abhisek and be the promoter of left-arm orthodox, went for 6, 6, 6 in the 14th over - the last of those balls a one-handed swipe over backward square leg that brought up Abhisek's century - a miss off the next ball ended the attack.
Or not, because Zimbabwe still had six overs to bowl and India were now in the mood. Gaikwad's struggle against the conditions and the rust of playing his first competitive cricket since the IPL continued till his 38th ball, when he brought up his half-century with a boundary off Jongwe. He blew away Chatra in the next over, the 18th, hitting him for three boundaries and a six and eventually remained unbeaten on 77 off 47 balls.
However, the biggest blow for India in the final overs was Rinku Singh, who missed the World Cup campaign with an average of 89 from 11 innings and a strike rate of 176.23 at the time of the team announcement. He was in his best form here, promoted to No. 4 with a perfect entry point for his skills, smashing a huge six over cover off the sixth ball and ending the innings with a four and two consecutive sixes off Jongwe, who took 0 for 53 in four overs. He probably wouldn't have expected this when he induced Abhishek to depart for 27.
If Zimbabwe had any hope of chasing the target, it depended on the structure of India's attack. After opting for an extra batsman, they were playing with just four main bowlers, leaving part-timers Abhishek and Riyan Parag to bowl four overs each.
Abhishek is not a part-timer in domestic cricket, and has plenty of variations to play with his stock left-arm orthodox, but he found out how difficult it can be to bowl in the powerplay in an international game, conceding 19 runs in the second over to Bennett's aggressive mood. Bennett also got hold of Mukesh Kumar in the next over, hitting him for two big sixes in a row - over square leg and then down the ground - but he was dismissed off the next ball.
It was the second wicket taken by Mukesh with an in-ducker, after dismissing Innocent Kaia earlier in the over. Such seam movement, including some inconsistent bounce, was a typical feature of Zimbabwe's powerplay: they made 22 runs more than India in that phase, thanks to Bennett's aggression, but they lost four wickets to India's one.
One of these showed how challenging the conditions still were: a bouncer from Avesh Khan slipped to Sikandar Raza as he turned to hook, and he had to use his glove to keep the ball from going into the goalkeeper's hands.
Zimbabwe's innings faltered after the powerplay, with Ravi Bishnoi looking particularly unplayable - Jonathan Campbell, sweeping and reverse-sweeping with increasing frustration, missed five consecutive deliveries from him, and the sixth one hit him on the body. Wesley Madhevere batted from the start of the chase until the 17th over, scoring 43 off 39 balls. Zimbabwe were eventually bowled out for 134 with eight balls to spare, with Mukesh and Avesh taking three wickets each and Bishnoi taking 2 for 11 from his four overs.