India beat Zimbabwe in the second T20 International and Started the Abhishek Sharma era.

With a decisive 100-run win against Zimbabwe in Harare, India easily advanced through the series. On Sunday, July 7, India tied the series thanks to the leadership of Abhishek Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Ankush Pandey Ankush Pandey
Jul 7, 2024 - 16:37 Updated: Jul 8, 2024 - 06:32
0 89
India beat Zimbabwe in the second T20 International and Started the Abhishek Sharma era.
India defeats Zimbabwe, led by Abhishek Sharma.

INTRO

  • Zimbabwe lost the Twenty20 International series to India.
  • In the second T20I encounter, India defeated Zimbabwe by 100 runs
  • Abhishek Sharma scored his first T20I century.

On Sunday, July 7, the young Indian squad decisively defeated Zimbabwe in the five-match Twenty20 International series. In the second Twenty20 International encounter in Harare, India crushed Zimbabwe by 100 runs, fueled by a brilliant century from Abhishek Sharma. After the opening ten overs of the first inning, Zimbabwe was out of the match. The hosts were bowled out for just 134 runs after giving up a record 234 runs, thanks to impressive performances from Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, and Mukesh Kumar.

Chasing a target of 235, Zimbabwe got off to an aggressive start with Brian Bennett. Bennett hit fours off successive deliveries from Mukesh Kumar but fell to the same bowler after hitting fours off just 9 balls. After Bennett's 26-run knock, Zimbabwe lost wickets in quick succession, reducing their score to 76/7 in the 12th over of the match. Thereafter, Luke Jongwe and opener Wesley Madhevere offered some resistance, but the team was eventually bowled out for 134 in 18.4 overs.

On that particular day, Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan were without a doubt India's top bowlers. Although Avesh introduced a flurry of short balls to disrupt the opposing batting, the former No. 1 T20I spinner ended with figures of 4-0-11-2, choking the ZIM batting in the middle overs.

As a fact, Avesh Khan's deadly bouncers ended all-rounder Sikandar Raza's innings at the wicket by striking him in the helmet and popping into wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel's hands. The leg spinner, who did not give Zimbabwe any leeway on Sunday, provided Avesh with able support.

Mukesh Kumar and Washington Sundar were among the other wickets, in addition to those two.

Two Indian batsmen, Abhishek Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad, dominated the game. Despite taking rather different tactics to their innings, the two worked well together to enable India to score the highest-ever total in the T20I format against Zimbabwe.

Abhishek struck a huge six off the leg side to begin his bat, but Ruturaj gave up five consecutive dot balls after Shubman Gill was out early. Abhishek attempted to be as optimistic as he could during his innings, but Gaikwad stuck to his cautious strategy on the two-paced Harare pitch.

India's strategy paid off as they controlled the game outside of the powerplay, with Abhishek slashing away in the middle overs and Ruturaj dominating the last five overs of the innings.

After two games, India's victory brought the series to a 1-1 tie. After competing on consecutive days, the teams will take a little break before playing the third game of the series on Wednesday, July 10.

The Show with Abhishek Sharma

On his debut with the Indian team, Abhishek Sharma did, well, Abhishek Sharma. He fell for a 4-ball duck. The 23-year-old scored his first T20I century on Sunday after opening his innings with a six over deep square leg. He then put on an incredible batting show. Abhishek took a while to reach fifty off of 33 balls in his innings. Following the powerplay, the opener destroyed the Zimbabwean spinners, scoring the next fifty runs in just 13 balls.

Abhishek struck eight sixes and seven boundaries that day. The Harare pitch is two-paced, but he tried to be aggressive from the beginning of his innings and did not alter his strategy.

The opening batsman was lucky to be dropped in the eighth over of his innings when he was batting at 27. There were two overs in particular where Sharma was very aggressive. He then destroyed Wellington Masakazda with a 21-run over after smashing Dion Myers for 28 runs. Sharma struck three consecutive sixes to achieve his century but was caught trying to knock the fourth in the last ball of the 14th over.

Ruturaj Gaikwad's Tribute to MS Dhoni

On Sunday, Ruturaj Gaikwad, an Indian batter, paid a unique homage to MS Dhoni. On the day when MS Dhoni, the renowned player who was known for wearing the No. 7 jersey for the Indian side, turned 47, Gaikwad struck a beautiful innings of 77* off 47 balls. On July 7, a knock of 77* quickly sparked an amazing amount of jokes on the internet, mockingly referring to Gaikwad as the next great CSK captain.

Ruturaj and Abhishek Sharma combined for 137 runs to lead India to a huge total of 234 runs, after being among the numerous players who failed to score in the series opening game.

"I didn't even middle a single ball in the first fifteen balls I played, so it was pretty tough." Ruturaj stated in the mid-innings interview that "the wicket was a little bit tough. Me and Abhishek talked that we should take our time and then go for our shots, and it worked."

It's also necessary to mention Rinku Singh, who blasted his way to 48* off just 22 balls and contributed to India scoring their highest-ever T20I total against Zimbabwe.