The high of a World Cup title was followed by the low of a defeat to Zimbabwe, as a young, inexperienced Indian team suffered a batting breakdown to fall short by 13 runs in Harare on Saturday, July 6, 2024. (Match Highlights | Scorecard | More Cricket News)
The Shubman Gill-led India were unable to chase down a modest target of 116 runs, as hosts Zimbabwe bowled them out for a mere 102-run total. The visitors' team featured none of the players from the ICC T20 World Cup 2024-winning unit.
The Indian middle-order failed abjectly, and captain Gill (31 runs off 29 balls) was the only batter in the top six to get to double digits. India slumped to four down for 22 runs inside the powerplay, and never really recovered from there.
Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza produced a top-class spell with the ball, finishing with figures of 3 for 25 off his four overs, including the prized scalp of Gill and a wicket off his final ball - a beauty that castled Mukesh Kumar.
All-rounder Washington Sundar (27 off 34) was the only other Indian to pose resistance with the bat, and was the last batter to fall as the hosts bowled them out in 19.5 overs.
Earlier, India restricted Zimbabwe to what seemed like an eminently gettable total of 115 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs after Gill won the toss and elected to bowl first. Ravi Bishnoi was the pick of the bowlers, with four wickets for just 13 runs to his name.
Sundar chipped in with the ball too, scalping two wickets and conceding just 11 runs off his four overs.
But the target eventually proved too much for the raw Indian batting. Red-hot in the Indian Premier League, opener Abhishek Sharma and middle-order marauder Rinku Singh both fell for ducks.
India handed T20I debuts to Riyan Parag, Abhishek Sharma and Dhruv Jurel in this game.
Playing XIs
India: Shubman Gill (c), Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed.
Zimbabwe: Tadiwanashe Marumani, Innocent Kaia, Brian Bennett, Sikandar Raza (c), Dion Myers, Johnathan Campbell, Clive Madande (wk), Wessly Madhevere, Luke Jongwe, Blessing Muzarabani, Tendai Chatara.
The two teams will meet again in less than 24 hours' time, for the second T20I at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday.
