Image Credit- AP
India’s post-World Cup celebrations were put on hold after they suffered their first T20I loss in 2024 at the hands of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s bowlers came out firing after being limited to 115 for 9, taking wickets often to dismiss India for 102 in 19.5 overs. Naturally, this was India’s backup T20I lineup; the first-choice team is taking a break one week prior to the World Cup final in Bridgetown.
Wessly Madhevere gave Zimbabwe the ideal start to their innings as he hit Khaleel Ahmed for four straight down the ground. But Mukesh Kumar’s first ball of his spell—the second over of the innings—uprooted innocent Kaia’s leg stump, so their happiness was short-lived.
Nonetheless, Bennett and Madhevere moved Zimbabwe ahead quickly. Bennett got off to a screaming start with a square drive, and he went on to get four more with a strong outside edge beyond second slip. Then, however in a streaky manner, Khaleel was taken for 17 off the fifth over between both batsmen.
Bennett took the first wicket with a fortuitous boundary over slips, and Avesh then made light work of a fairly simple chance at deep third. After five overs, Zimbabwe shot up to 40 for 1, thanks to a ballistic shot from Madhevere that drove Khaleel through the midwicket and another edge over slip.
With his variances, Bishnoi was always going to be a difficult customer for the Zimbabwean batsmen, and he was quickly among the wickets. He bowled wrong-uns almost exclusively, and he opened by destroying Bennett for a 22 from 15 balls. It was a trimmer for bails. Madhevere was dismissed in Bishnoi’s subsequent over after failing to block a slog sweep and taking a few blows to his off stump.
Together with Dion Myers, Raza put up 23 runs off of 24 balls for the fourth wicket, including a lovely six off Avesh. However, his wicket resulted in an unprecedented collapse. Zimbabwe fell from 74 for 3 in the 12th over to 90 for 9 in the 16th, with Bishnoi and Washington being the main culprits.
The unbroken 25-run partnership between Clive Madande and Chatara was the reason Zimbabwe reached 115, and those runs would prove to be very valuable in the end.
At the halfway point, not many people would have given Zimbabwe much of a chance, but the bowlers found their lengths right away. Raza bowled first with two spinners, Brian Bennett and Wellington Masakadza, and was immediately rewarded when Abhishek top-edged Bennett to deep backward square leg in the opening over.
After that, Muzarabani forced Gaikwad to slip with a ball of back-of-length, and Chatara took two wickets in three balls to really disturb India. After six overs, India was already in serious trouble at 28 for 4.
Gill started working on the repairs with Jurel, but Raza’s bowlers, who held to their lengths, made run-scoring an extremely difficult assignment. Between overs six and ten, India managed just two fours and at the end of this over, they lost Jurel.
Then Raza delivered the knockout punch, defeating Gill in the end. After 10.2 overs, India was down to 47 for 6, and in the 13th over, they were quickly up to 61 for 7. After a quick 18-ball, 23-run partnership between Avesh and Washington, Zimbabwe could already taste victory when Avesh hammered a knee-high Masakadza full toss to long off.
Even though Washington took Jongwe for 12 in the 18th over, Raza had already castled Mukesh for his third, and the odds were stacked in the hosts’ advantage. Before Chatara ended the game, Muzarabani only gave up two runs in the penultimate over as Washington turned down singles.