Zimbabwe could not handle the questions posed by Vaishnavi.
| Photo Credit: CREIMAS/BCCI
Zimbabwe’s historic maiden tour of India ended on a sobering note for the Lady Chevrons, with Vaishnavi Sharma’s maiden five-wicket haul and fifties from Pratika Rawal and Shafali Verma guiding India to a dominant eight-wicket win and a 3-0 series sweep here on Wednesday.
People in Vadodara are simple. They like their food and cricket. They particularly like their local stars being involved in international fixtures. At the BCA Stadium, from the security personnel to the ground staff, Yastika Bhatia was the name on everyone’s lips. After frustrating the home fans twice, India finally swapped out Richa Ghosh for her.
Yastika had a great afternoon behind the stumps, taking a catch and effecting a stumping and a run out, in an effort that restricted Zimbabwe to just 131 in 39.5 overs. But she botched a perfect opportunity to make a statement with the bat, going grand off the very first ball of the innings, only to find Francisca Chipare at mid-on.
Harleen Deol, in for Tejal Hasabnis, was overshadowed by Pratika’s fluency and fell for a run-a-ball 19. Pratika and Shafali, visibly in a hurry, got the job done at T20 pace with 33 overs to spare.
Earlier, Sayali Satghare and Kranti Gaud nipped Zimbabwe’s dream of a competitive score in the bud, leaving it stuttering at 12 for two by the third over. Inexperience showed as the visitors struggled to rotate strike and crumbled under dot ball pressure — a staggering 193 in 237 balls.
Modester Mupachikwa resisted, but Vaishnavi’s left-arm spin gobbled up the middle-order. The Gwalior-born bowler also registered India’s first no ball of the series and had a few going wide with the turn which she got on a slow track in Kotambi. But, a maiden ODI five-for brightened the day and she eventually led India off the field with a wide smile and her signature curtain call.
The scores: Zimbabwe 131 in 39.5 overs (Modester Mupachikwa 37, Josephine Nkomo 35, Vaishnavi Sharma 5/39) lost to India 133/2 in 17 overs (Pratika Rawal 59 n.o., Shafali Verma 51 n.o.). Toss: Zimbabwe; PoM: Vaishnavi; PoS: Pratika.
Published – October 28, 2026 09:56 pm IST
