Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s led the way by smashing 81 off 49 balls and the bowlers did the rest as India beat Zimbabwe by 35 runs in the third and final T20I of the series in Harare on Sunday.
India have thus eased to a dominant 3-0 win in the series. Sooryavanshi’s second half-century of the series helped the visitors set a target of 193 to chase at the Harare Sports Club. Zimbabwe rarely looked capable of putting up a serious challenge and wrapped their innings on 157/7.
It was only an incredible diving catch that ended Sooryavanshi’s onslaught after India won the toss and chose to bat first. But that was only after the 15-year-old notched up his highest international score. It wasn’t the easiest of pitches to bat on, though, and Sooryavanshi initially showed a different side to his game to navigate it. He started in a relatively subdued fashion – first 10 balls produced a mere 11 runs, the next 10 saw the arrival of 15 runs, and eventually his second T20I fifty came in 31 balls.
On the other hand, his opening partner Abhishek got out for his sixth below par score in succession, edging pacer Blessing Muzarabani to stumper Tadi Marumani. Abhishek’s last six innings read: 10, 16, 3, 1, 8, 2, dating back to the third T20I at Nottingham against England last month.