Shubman Gill’s new India thumped Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in the fourth T20I match of the series on Saturday, 13 July. Playing at the Harare Stadium, India raced away to the target of 153 runs in just 15.2 overs after Yashasvi Jaiswal slammed a sensational 93-run knock. Having returned from the T20 World Cup, without playing a single game, Jaiswal showed why he is the future for India in the T20I format of the game.
The win helped Shubman Gill earn his first series as the captain of India, which will come as a relief, especially after getting snubbed from the T20 World Cup 2024 and then losing the first match of the series. Gill played a crucial part alongside Jaiswal, hitting his second half-century of the tour.
ZIM vs IND, 4th T20I: Highlights | Full Scorecard
Jaiswal’s innings (93* off 53) was crucial for India to set the tone against Zimbabwe in this game. Till today, India batters had struggled to find touch in the early part of the innings, however, on Saturday, Jaiswal came out all guns blazing, getting India off to a flyer. The batter freely played his shots, hitting 13 fours and 2 sixes, which helped Gill (58* off 39) to play out a patient innings, helping the left-hander.
The knock was crucial from the perspective of Jaiswal as well, who is in direct competition with Abhishek Sharma, who hit a century in the 2nd T20I of the game.
The openers made short work of the target given to them on a lovely batting deck in Harare. This was the first time that the batters were able to dominate in the powerplay against the new ball, and Zimbabwe batters must be kicking themselves after failing to convert their 63-run stand for the first wicket.
After the initial attack from openers Wessly Madhevere and Tadiwanashe Marumani, Zimbabwe were not able to keep their momentum up in the middle overs of the game. Ravi Bishnoi, and Washington Sundar continued to bowl well for India and were joined by part-timer Abhishek Sharma, who bowled 3 overs himself, picking up 1 wicket for just 20 runs.
Apart from Ravi Bishnoi, the other five bowlers were among wickets, with Tushar Deshpande and Abhishek Sharma picking up maiden wickets in their international careers.
This series has progressively seen India getting stronger, the full blow of which was seen today as Zimbabwe were outplayed in all three departments of the game. After this match, India have one more T20I to play, a dead rubber, which takes place tomorrow on the same venue.