Harare: India faced Zimbabwe in the fourth match of the 5-match T20I series at the Harare Sports Club. The Men in Blue were already in a 2-1 lead and came into this match with a chance to wrap up the series with a victory. The visitors won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Zimbabwe openers, Wessly Madhevere and Tadiwanashe Marumani gave the hosts a decent start. Both played relatively slow but kept the score board ticking. Their partnership soon reached the 50-run stand, however India finally got the breakthrough in the ninth over through a rather unexpected source, Abhishek Sharma who dismissed Marumani.
Shivam Dube then dismissed Madhevere an over later as the Men in Blue got rid of both the openers. Zimbabwe captain, Sikandar Raza played a good knock of 46 and his decent partnerships with Brian Bennett and Dion Myers carried the hosts to a fighting total of 152/7 in 20 overs. Khaleel Ahmed took 2 scalps in the innings and was the best bowler for India.
Indian openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill gave the visitors a fantastic start especially Jaiswal who tore apart the Zimbabwean bowlers. The 50-run partnership came up in no time. Gill was playing the supporting role and was successfully rotating the strike with Jaiswal who looked in a far better touch. However, the Indian skipper soon joined the party and started hitting boundaries in almost every over.
Then, Jaiswal reached his half-century but continued with his attacking approach. The partnership reached the 100-run mark in no time and eventually went on to take India home. The incredible 156-run stand where Jaiswal scored an unbeaten 93 while Gill also remained unbeaten on 58, saw India reach the target in only 15.2 overs and crush Zimbabwe by 10 wickets to seal the T20I series. The series may be settled but both sides will still be playing the last match of the tour tomorrow at the same venue.
