India beat Zimbabwe by 35 runs in the third and final T20I at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday, completing a 3-0 sweep of the series. Batting first, India posted 192/5 in their 20 overs before restricting Zimbabwe to 157/7 in reply.
The innings was built around an 81-run knock from 15-year-old opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who reached his score off just 49 balls. It was his third substantial score of the series after a maiden T20I half-century off 18 balls in the series opener and a quickfire 20 off 9 balls in the second match.
With this innings, Sooryavanshi became the first cricketer from a full-member Test nation to score two international fifties before turning 16. His contribution took India to a total that Zimbabwe were never able to seriously threaten in the chase.
Fast bowler Mayank Yadav backed up the batting effort with figures of 3 for 29, using pace to restrict Zimbabwe’s batters through the middle overs. Zimbabwe finished on 157/7, well short of the 193 they needed for victory.
The result gives India a clean sweep of the T20I leg of the tour. It follows an equally dominant ODI series earlier on the same trip, in which India had also beaten Zimbabwe 3-0.
(Image: Prime Minister’s Office, GODL-India)
