Harare: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s remarkably adaptive 81 and an equally solid effort from bowlers led by pacer Mayank Yadav ensured India’s smooth 35-run win over Zimbabwe in the third and final T20I here Sunday.
Along with the victory, India also completed a 3-0 sweep, a fine step-up after surrendering the previous two series to England (0-4) and Ireland (0-2). Zimbabwe had to bat out of their skin to chase down 193 on a rather sluggish pitch.
But they did not have enough patience or nous for it, ending up at 157 for seven despite Ryan Burl making a fine unbeaten 54.
Just like in the previous matches, Zimbabwe lost one too many wickets early as they could not properly use the Power Play segment.
Pacer Yash Thakur (2/45) got rid of Dion Myers and skipper Sikandar Raza off successive balls in the fourth over as the hosts slipped to 34 for three.
Earlier, Mayank (3/29), who bowled with heaps of pace and accuracy, had ousted Brian Bennett in the first ball of the innings as Zimbabwe struggled for an early move-on.
It became a trend as the innings progressed despite Indians grassing as many as four catches and conceding a couple of boundaries in another sloppy fielding effort.
Burl played a nice innings of assurance and formed a good 60-run alliance with Wesley Madhevere (28) for the fifth wicket.
The Zimbabweans played some forceful shots around the park, but the early damage was too big to mitigate.
Brief Scores: India: 192 for 5 in 20 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 81; Brad Evans 2/41, Blessing Muzarabani 1/33) beat Zimbabwe: 157 for 7 in 20 overs (Ryan Buri 54 not out; Mayank Yadav 3/29, Yash Thakur 2/45) by 35 runs.