Abhijay Raj Vaish, Pune
India defeated Zimbabwe in the second T20I on Sunday leveling the five-match series by 1-1 at the Harare Sports Club in Harare. India posed a total of 234-2 after electing to bat first which led Zimbabwe to concede their highest-ever defeat in T20 internationals by a margin of 100 runs. This record was previously held by Australia who defeated the side by the same margin in 2018.
Abhishek Sharma smashed a century in his second T20 international becoming the fastest Indian batter to score a T20I ton in terms of innings. India made one change to their line-up as Khaleel Ahmed sat out with Sai Sudarshan coming in as his replacement. The World Champions’ batting effort was aided by a half-century by Ruturaj Gaikwad and a blustering 48-run knock by Rinku Singh. After Zimbabwe handed India a shocking 13-run defeat in the first T20I, the former was restricted to a mere 134 with eight balls remaining by a bold display of the Indian bowling. The second innings of the match was led by pacers Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan who picked three wickets each, with Ravi Bishnoi clinching two and Washington Sundar picking one. Only two Zimbabwe bowlers picked a wicket each in their dismal performance as a side. Wessley Madhevere was the only batsman to get going scoring 43 off 39 for the Sikandar Raza-led side and batted till the 17th over. Luke Jongwe tried taking on the mammoth target scoring 33 off 26 but eventually fell to Mukesh Kumar.
The win opened the account of Shubman Gill’s first victory as the Indian Captain who led this young side in his second match as the lead man. The Men in Blue posted the highest team total against Zimbabwe after the latter defended the lowest total in the previous match. Abhishek Sharma who was awarded the man of the match mentioned the impact of the loss in the first match and how he made the second match count. The series has three matches still to go which will all be hosted in Harare.