India wins toss, to field first

The job was almost done as India needed a mere 8 runs off the last over to record a win.

Chasing 171 to win, India started off badly as they lost the wicket of in-form opener KL Rahul off the very first delivery. Total (For 6 wickets; 20 overs) 170. First Rayudu missed a wild slog to be bowled, and then Mandeep chipped to long-off where Tinotenda Mutumbodzi completed a good catch diving forward leaving India 53 for 3 in the eighth over. Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey, who are also on the tour this time around, will be aware of the past results.

The see-saw nature was similar to Zimbabwe’s innings but it was here that Pandey threatened to take control.

This brought down the equation to 28 off 16 balls.

India and Zimbabwe began their first T20I in Harare with India winning toss and fielding first.

It came down to MS Dhoni and what he could do with the last ball, as it has so many times in his career. By the time Sikander Raza was run-out for 20, four of Zimbabwe batsmen had failed to convert promising starts.

Zimbabwe did beat India in the World Cup, Are Zimbabwe’s Targeting to beat India in all the Series and Gain Some attention to the coming Leagues?

Zimbabwe rose from the ashes of an embarrassing one-day series whitewash at the hands of India to stun the tourists in a thrilling Twenty20 worldwide at Harare Sports Club.

Zimbabwe had five players going into the 20s but it was Elton Chigumbura who turned things around with a 26-ball 54.

Richmond Mutumbami (0 retired hurt) got hit while playing the third delivery off Unadkat which kicked off from length. In the middle of the innings, Sikandar Raza and Malcolm Waller stitched together a good 47 run partnership. After a forgettable ODI series, this was an inspired performance from the Zimbabwe team.

Faced with the sudden onslaught, the Indian bowlers looked helpless as medium pacers Jaydev Unadkat and Rishi Dhawan leaked 43 and 42 runs respectively.