Team India makes a brilliant comeback in T20I series; wins second T20I vs Zimbabwe by 100 runs
Young Indian team staged an emphatic comeback in the 5-match T20I series against Zimbabwe on Sunday, 7 July. Led by Abhishek Sharma‘s sensational century, India hammered Zimbabwe by 100 runs in the second T20I match in Harare.
Zimbabwe were not in the game after the first 10 overs of the first innings. After conceding a record 234 runs, the hosts were bundled out for just 134 runs, courtesy of clinical bowling displays from Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi and Mukesh Kumar.
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Abhishek Sharma smashes magnificent century
Abhishek Sharma did the most Abhishek Sharma thing possible after falling for a four-ball duck in his debut with the Indian team. The 23-year-old began his innings with a six over deep square leg and then put on a magnificent batting show to score his first T20I century on Sunday. Abhishek took his time during the start of his innings, but he eventually scored fifty off 33 balls. Following the powerplay, the opener blasted the Zimbabwean spinners, scoring the next fifty runs in 13 balls.
On the day, Abhishek smashed eight sixes and seven boundaries. He attempted to be aggressive from the outset of his innings and did not adjust his strategy despite the two-paced nature of the Harare surface.
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Zimbabwean batting falters badly
Zimbabwe began their pursuit of 235 runs aggresively, with Brian Bennett attacking early. Bennet smashed Mukesh Kumar for a string of boundaries before succumbing to the same bowler after a valiant stay of only 9 balls. Following Bennett’s 26-run innings, Zimbabwe lost a spate of wickets, dropping to 76/7 in the 12th over of the encounter. From there on, Luke Jongwe and opener Wessley Madhvere offered some resistance until the squad was bowled out for 134 in 18.4 overs.
On the particular day, Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan were without a doubt India’s top bowlers. On one hand, Avesh produced 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.
