A day after suffering a shocking defeat in Harare, Shubman Gill-led Team India bounced back with a stellar 100-run win against Zimbabwe to level the 5-match series 1-1. Abhishek Sharma’s blazing maiden hundred followed by an unbeaten 87-run stand between Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rinku Singh powered the visitors to a mammoth 234-run total in their quota of 20 overs. In reply, pacers Mukesh Kumar (3/37) and Avesh Khan (3/15) picked up 3 wickets apiece as India bundled out the hosts for 134 and 8 balls to spare.
This is India’s biggest margin of victory in terms of runs against Zimbabwe in T20Is.
The young Indian side didn’t carry the baggage of a shock-13-run defeat in the series-opener as left-handed opener Abhishek blended power with grace for a scintillating 100-run knock that propelled India to a massive 234 for two on a track where batting wasn’t exactly easy.
The ask was already stiff and Indian bowlers got breakthroughs at regular intervals to bowl out Zimbabwe for 134 in 18.4 overs to set the record straight.
Pacers Mukesh Kumar (3/37) and Avesh Khan (3/15) removed the top-order inside the Powerplay to kill the contest which became a formality afterwards.
The day certainly belonged to Abhishek, who mixed grace and power in equal measure in an innings, embellished with eight sixes and seven fours. It made a normally stylish Ruturaj Gaikwad (77 not out off 47 balls) look pale in comparison during their 137-run stand for the second wicket.
His innings would also increase the headache for skipper Shubman Gill and stand-in coach VVS Laxman, who would need to take a tough call when Yashasvi Jaiswal is available from the third game. After his century, there is no way that the Sunrisers Hyderabad opener can be dropped from the playing XI.
Having endured the disappointment of a four-ball duck on debut, Abhishek never looked under pressure on a track which his senior partner and current CSK partner Gaikwad found “difficult to feel set”.
The hallmark of his innings was fearlessness as he took calculated risks which paid off and allowed Gaikwad at the other end to get into the groove after playing and missing for the better part of his innings.
Abhishek got a reprieve on 27 when Wellington Masakadza dropped a regulation skier off Luke Jongwe. He never looked back after that. Having started his international run account with a pulled six off-spinner Brian Bennett, who had got the better of him on Saturday.
His fifty came off another pulled six behind square off medium pacer Dion Myers, whose 28-run over opened the floodgates during the back-10 for the visitors. The most pleasing shot to the eye was his inside-out six off rival skipper Sikandar Raza, lofting his off-break with the turn over extra cover boundary.
If that was elegance personified, how he muscled left-arm spinner Masakadza into the orbit with back-to-back sixes was a testimony to his brute power.
He raised his milestone hundred when he guided a wayward full-toss on leg-stump behind the square for a maximum before being dismissed off the very next delivery.
On return to the dugout, he was congratulated by his skipper and best friend Shubman Gill, who once again had an indifferent outing.
The poor fielding effort also hurt Zimbabwe as they also dropped Gaikwad’s catch, who took off from where Abhishek had left, creaming off 87 runs off 36 balls for the third wicket with Rinku Singh (48 not out off 22 balls), who also made merry with five huge sixes.
The total was India’s highest against Zimbabwe in T20 Internationals, surpassing previous best of 186, a fitting comeback after an inexplicable batting collapse in the opening game.
(With Agency Inputs)
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