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SHUBMAN Gill played the classic anchor while Ruturaj Gaikwad the disruptor as the visiting India side laboured to a 23-run victory over hosts Zimbabwe in the third T20 match at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
The win saw India take a big step towards winning the five-match T20I series and they now carry a 2-1 lead going into this weekend’s final matches.
However, that was not the story of the day.
That honour belongs to a young Dion Myers who put up a scintillating performance with the bat and justified his skipper Sikandar Raza’s support for the young turks in the team.
Raza, of course, expressed his dislike to chop and change the team after his charges were convincingly beaten by 100 runs in last Sunday’s game.
Unfortunately, they did change again, as the Zimbabwe technical team decided to bring in the duo of a recovering Richard Ngarava and Tadiwanashe Marumani for Innocent Kaia and Luke Jongwe.
The changes failed to make the desired impact as India won the toss, elected to bat and put up a commanding 182 runs for four from their allotted 20 overs.
Gill scored a 49-ball 66 runs as he continued to open the batting while Yashasvi Jaiswal, his partner, slammed 36 runs from 27 balls.
This opening stand saw the two pile on 67 runs off 50 balls for the opening partnership, setting the platform for a 28-ball 49 runs from Gaikwad that helped India to 182 for 4.
The return of three players from the T20 World Cup-winning squad forced a change in India’s tactics.
Jaiswal has been the incumbent opener – whenever India have played without Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli — and he slotted back at the top with Gill.
As a result, Abhishek Sharma, fresh from his maiden international century in the second T20I, and Gaikwad had to play out of positions at numbers three and four.
The changes worked to some degree but Zimbabwe’s lapse fielding also helped.
The Zimbabwe bowlers found the going tough as only the duo of Raza and Blessing Muzarabani managed to get any breakthroughs with each taking two wickets.
Raza finished with two wickets for 25 runs as he had Jaiswal caught at backward point by Brian Bennet and also claimed the scalp of Abhishek Sharma (10 runs).
Muzarabani took the wickets of India’s troublesome skipper Gill (66) and Gaikwad (49).
India ended on 182 runs, not below par at all, but one that aided by a few missed half-chances, two dropped catches — one each of Jaiswal and Gaikwad — and a plethora of misfields from Zimbabwe.
Tendai Chatara failed to get a hand to Jaiswal’s pull in the opening over of the day and, in the next one, Myers was a bit late in reacting to a top edge from Gill.
The ball landed short of Myers running in from midwicket.
A few half-chances were also missed.
The mishaps on the field were mostly regulation efforts, which meant India raced away to a fast start despite facing 22 dots in the powerplay. In reply, Zimbabwe’s top-order failed to replicate the magic of their opponents’.
Marumani (13) replaced Innocent Kaia at the top of the order and started enterprisingly.
He belted a couple of fours in the opening over bowled by Khaleel Ahmed but fell trying to repeat the dose in his next over.
From the other end, Avesh Khan first dismissed Wessly Madhevere (1) and then Brian Bennett (4), thanks to a spectacular flying catch from Ravi Bishnoi at backward point.
When Raza (15) swung across the line to hole out to deep square-leg off Washington’s second ball, the writing seemed to be on the wall.
Fortunately, Myers and Clive Madande had other plans.
India’s decision to accommodate all of their T20 World Cup returnees left them thin on bowling resources.
As a result, Abhishek and Shivam Dube had to combine to bowl four overs.
And, Myers and Madande didn’t let them settle and hit a combined six fours and two sixes off them. Those four overs cost India 50.
Thanks to the early inroads, it did not cost them on the day.
The Zimbabwe duo put up 77 runs off 57 balls for the sixth wicket with Myers the chief tormentor on his way to a maid-en T20 international half-century.
The 22-year-old starred two crucial partnerships that turned the match into a contest with the second being seventh-wicket with Wellington Masakadza. The two put up 43 runs off 21 balls as Zimbabwe finished on 159 for six. — Sports Reporter/Cricinfo.
Online Reporter