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ZIMBABWE’S most-assured batting effort was not enough to mount a challenge against India’s young IPL stars, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill.
The two made light work of a 152-run target to hand India a 10-wicket and a series-clinching 3-1 lead in the five-match series at the Harare Sports Club yesterday.
It was a sensational exhibition of intent-laden batting of the kind not seen in the series so far.
Where Zimbabwe hit all of 10 fours in their 20 overs, Jaiswal and Gill smashed as many in their first four overs en route their emphatic win during the penultimate clash of the series.
The two sides meet again this afternoon for the fifth and final match of the series, which will also be played at the Harare Sports Club.
Zimbabwe had lost at least two wickets in the powerplay in each of the first three T20s of the series.
However, the duo of Wessly Madhevere and Tadiwanashe Marumani rode their luck to add 63 in eight overs to give the hosts a solid platform.
In the third over, Marumani was dropped by Shivam Dube at mid-on while on three.
He also benefitted from an overthrow that went to the boundary in the same over, and Marumani appeared to flick the switch after the reprieve by going after debutant Tushar Deshpande, who conceded 21 off his first two overs.
India’s skipper Gill quickly turned to spin inside the powerplay and they managed to rein in the scoring; eventually an effort to up the ante against India’s part-time bowlers, who needed to fill the fifth-bowler’s quota, got Marumani.
Off Abhishek Sharma’s fourth ball, he looked to pull and ended up hitting it towards the longest part of the boundary, where Rinku Singh was waiting at deep midwicket.
This allowed Gill to bring on Shivam Dube from the other end in a bid to get the fifth-bowler’s quota out of the way, but he, too, struck.
In his first over, he had the other set batter, Madhevere, pulling a short ball to Rinku at deep square leg.
The two Zimbabwean openers were back in the pavilion, with Madhevere having contributed 25 runs, while Marumani chipped in with 32 runs.
Their opening stand went for 63 runs off 52 balls.
Zimbabwe then gave away easy wickets and at regular intervals, as four batters failed to reach double-digits, namely Brian Bennett (9), Jonathan Campbell (3), wicketkeeper Clive Madande (7) and Faraz Akram, who finished the day unbeaten on four runs.
Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza top-scored with 46 runs off 28 balls.
The Zimbabwe wickets were evenly spread amongst the Indian bowlers.
Khaleel Ahmed was the pick of the Indian bowlers with two for 32 runs, while Tushar Deshpande, Washington Sundar, Abhishek Sharma and Dube all claimed a scalp each.
Chasing the target of 153 for victory, India’s response was swift and emphatic.
Jaiswal and Gill raced to the target with relative ease to hand the visitors the win and series.
Their unbeaten opening stand saw the two blast 156 runs off 92 balls, including 19 boundaries and four maximums.
Jaiswal finished the day on 93 runs off 53 balls, while Gill contributed 59 runs off 39 balls. — Cricinfo/Sports Reporter
Online Reporter