Harare: Yashasvi Jaiswal’s flair was complemented by skipper Shubman Gill’s poise as young Indian team cantered to a 10-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the fourth T20 International, taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
This is the second time that India beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets after a similar-margin win at the same venue in 2016.
Jaiswal and Gill’s approach was in complete contrast as the Mumbai southpaw went hammer and tongs during his unbeaten 93-run knock while the skipper (58 not out) was ready to play the second fiddle in a chase of 153 which was completed in 15.2 overs.
The target was made to look way easier than it should have been on a track that had good bounce and carry.
Jaiswal, who had to sit out during the T20 World Cup campaign hardly looked rusty, playing shots all around the wicket.
The thumping bowler’s back-drive off rival skipper Sikandar Raza was delightful and equally stylish was the pick-up pull off Richard Ngarava for a six.
The lack of pace in Zimbabwean attack on a good wicket became home team’s undoing as the dominant Jaiswal had reached his half-century with nine boundaries when the skipper was yet to reach 15.
There was no way that Zimbabwe could have stopped the run-feast as towards the end, the bigger interest was whether the two flag bearers of Indian batting into the next decade could reach their individual milestones of half-century and century.
It was Gill, who got his fifty and that didn’t leave Jaiswal with enough runs to complete his hundred.
Earlier India’s part-time bowlers Shivam Dube and Abhishek Sharma performed commendably in the middle overs to restrict Zimbabwe to a manageable 152 for seven after being put into bat by Gill.
Raza smashed 46 off 28 balls but India’s fifth bowler Abhishek (1/20 in 3 overs) and sixth option Dube (1/11 in 2 overs) produced a decent effort to keep the proceedings under control.
They removed the dangerous-looking opening duo of Wesley Madhevere (25 off 24 balls) and Tadiwanashe Marumani (32 off 31 balls) to put brakes in the middle overs.
However Raza with three sixes and two fours was the reason that Zimbabwe reached 150-plus target with almost all the Indian bowlers, save leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, entering their names in the wickets column.
Medium fast bowler Tushar Deshpande (1/30 in 3 overs) was handed a debut cap but in his first spell he flattered to deceive, either pitching it too full or bowling too short.
More often than not he drifted on the pads allowing both openers Madhevere and Marumani to pick up easy boundaries.
Deshpande would feel good that he could get rid of Raza with a slower delivery in the slog overs to prevent Zimbabwe from surpassing 170 which would have been par on this track.
Zimbabwe’s best opening stand for the series in the first three games was 9 but Madhevere and Marumani added 63 in a solid stand even if it was not exactly spectacular.
However once the opening stand was broken by left-arm spinner Abhishek, who forced Marumani to mistime a pull-shot into Rinku Singh’s hands, Zimbabwe couldn’t press home advantage they had gained.
Madhevere was accounted for by Dube as he couldn’t get the required elevation and distance to a short ball. Rinku at deep mid-wicket completed formality.
Brian Bennett (9 off 14 balls), who was brilliant with the bat in the second game failed to get going before Washington sent him back. This was after Dube and Abhishek bowled wicket to wicket and kept a check on scoring.
