The India side has been going through a phenomenal time in the shortest format of the game, having registered their second title in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, to end the wait for 17 years in this format, which also eventually provided them an ICC trophy after 11-years, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.
Now with the senior players being rested for the ongoing five-match away T20I series against Zimbabwe, it has given the youngsters a great time and chance to be exposed at the senior level, as they would look to gain more experience from the series and prepare them for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026, at home and Sri Lanka.
Three of the senior members of the side- Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja too have called their time from the format, which opened the door for three young players to earn a spot in the national side.
India becomes first T20I team to register 150th victory
The young India side, under the captaincy of Shubman Gill, came into the third game of the series on the back of a 1-1 series margin, at the Harare Sports Club, which hasn’t been an easy surface to bat freely for the new batters, especially.
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The captain of the visitors won the toss and decided to bat first on a surface that looked good for batting and was expected to get slow and low towards the end of the afternoon making the chase quite tough for the home side.
It was thought to be the chance for the youngsters to be part of the team for the lion’s share of the series. However, the India management decided to bring back all of the three players who were involved in the T20 World Cup- Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube, and Sanju Samson in the side, leaving out Riyan Parag, Sai Sudharsan, and Dhruv Jurel from the batting order.
It was quite an interesting decision, given Parag got just one chance to show his batting skills, while Sudharsan could just come and display his fielding tricks in the middle. Abhishek Sharma, who celebrated his maiden T20I century in just his second innings of the format, was dropped down to number three.
India started like an express train with boundaries being flown all around the park, from the bat of both openers- Gill and Jaiswal, while Zimbabwe later realized the right length for the track, to slow down the visitors in the middle overs.
The Punjab opening batter ended up with 66 runs in 49 runs, while Jaiswal cracked 36 off 27. Abhishek didn’t have a great time in the middle having made only 10 runs in nine deliveries. Another fascinating factor that afternoon was India going with four openers, as Ruturaj Gaikwad walked at number four.
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The Maharashtra batter made 49 runs in 28 balls to fire the run rate toward the end to carry the side to 182/4 in their allotted 20-overs. The bowling at the start for the ‘men in blue’ was quite incredible, as they found the hosts at 39/5, with their captain Raza being already back in the hut.
Dion Mayer, who remained unbeaten on 65 runs in 49 balls, had a decent 77-run stand with the wicket-keeper batter Clive Madande but could take them to 159/6 in their 20-overs, falling short by 23 runs.
With this win, India recorded their 150th win in T20Is in 230 games at a winning rate of 65.21%, while Pakistan sits at number two in most wins of the format, with 142 victories in 245 games at a winning percentage of under 58.