Indian cricket team spinner Ravi Bishnoi pulled off a brilliant catch to leave both fans and experts stunned during the third T20I encounter against Zimbabwe on Wednesday. During the third over of the Zimbabwe innings, Brian Bennett chased a wide delivery from Avesh Khan and slammed it powerfully towards backward point. However, Bishnoi was positioned perfectly and he leaped in the air and grabbed the ball with both hands to complete a sensational dismissal. Bishnoi’s teammates rushed to him to celebrate while Bennett was left completely stunned by the catch. The video of the dismissal has already gone viral.

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Stroke-filled innings from Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad fuelled India to 182 for four against Zimbabwe.

Opting to bat on a fresh pitch, Gill-led India made some interesting selection calls. They duly brought in World Cup winners Jaiswal (36 off 27), Sanju Samson (12 not out off 7) and Shivam Dube into the playing eleven, leaving out the likes of Riyan Parag in the middle order.

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Sanju came to bat at number five with four specialist openers Jaiswal, Gill (66 off 49), Abhishek Sharma (10 off 9) and Gaikwad (49 off 28) occupying the top four positions respectively.

Jaiswal, who did not get a game in India’s triumphant campaign in the T20 World Cup, was happy to be back in the middle and went for his shots from the get go.

The southpaw collected couple of fours and a six over deep-midwicket in the opening over bowled by off-spinner Brian Bennett to set the tone.

Gill began with a gorgeous on drive off left-arm pacer Richard Ngarava before pulling him for a six over fine-leg.

Zimbabwe were poor in the field to say the least, conceding extra runs and grassing regulation catches throughout the innings. Pacer Blessing Muzarabani (2/25) once again got the extra bounce from length and was the pick of the bowlers.

After racing to 49 for no loss in four overs, India could not maintain that tempo reaching 55 in the powerplay with both openers in the centre.

Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza, who impressed again with the ball, got the breakthrough for his team as Jaiswal’s reverse sweep went straight into the hands of the fielder at backward point. Last game’s centurion Abhishek did not last long and was holed out in the deep off Raza.

Gaikwad, finding himself at an unusual batting position, was able to milk the spinners in the middle overs and ended with four boundaries and three sixes. 

(With PTI inputs)

Young Abhishek Sharma announced his arrival on the big stage with a breathtaking 46-ball century as India pummelled Zimbabwe by a whopping 100 runs in the second T20I to restore parity in a resounding fashion in Harare on Sunday. This is India’s biggest margin of victory in terms of runs against Zimbabwe in T20Is. The young Indian side didn’t carry the baggage of a shock-13-run defeat in the series-opener as left-handed opener Abhishek blended power with grace for a scintillating 100-run knock that propelled India to a massive 234 for two on a track where batting wasn’t exactly easy.

The ask was already stiff and Indian bowlers got breakthroughs at regular intervals to bowl out Zimbabwe for 134 in 18.4 overs to set the record straight.

Pacers Mukesh Kumar (3/37) and Avesh Khan (3/15) removed the top-order inside the Powerplay to kill the contest which became a formality after that.

The day certainly belonged to Abhishek, who mixed grace and power in equal measure in an innings, embellished with eight sixes and seven fours.

It made a normally stylish Ruturaj Gaikwad (77 not out off 47 balls) look pale in comparison during their 137-run stand for the second wicket.

His innings would also increase the headache for skipper Shubman Gill and stand-in coach VVS Laxman, who would need to take a tough call when Yashasvi Jaiswal is available from the third game.

After his century, there is no way that the Sunrisers Hyderabad opener can be dropped from the playing XI.

Having endured the disappointment of a four-ball duck on debut, Abhishek never looked under pressure on a track which his senior partner and current CSK partner Gaikwad found “difficult to feel set”. The hallmark of his innings was fearlessness as he took calculated risks which paid off and allowed Gaikwad at the other end to get into the groove after playing and missing for the better part of his innings.

Abhishek got a reprieve on 27 when Wellington Masakadza dropped a regulation skier off Luke Jongwe. He never looked back after that.

Having started his international run account with a pulled six off-spinner Brian Bennett, who had got the better of him on Saturday.

His fifty came off another pulled six behind square off medium pacer Dion Myers, whose 28-run over actually opened the floodgates during the back-10 for the visitors.

The shot that was most pleasing to the eye was his inside out six off rival skipper Sikandar Raza, lofting his off-break with the turn over extra cover boundary. If that was elegance personified, the manner in which he muscled left-arm spinner Masakadza into the orbit with back-to-back sixes was a testimony to his brute power.

He raised his milestone hundred when he guided a wayward full-toss on leg-stump behind the square for a maximum before being dismissed off the very next delivery.

On return to the dug-out, he was congratulated by his skipper and best friend Shubman Gill, who once again had an indifferent outing.

The poor fielding effort also hurt Zimbabwe as they also dropped Gaikwad’s catch, who took off from where Abhishek had left, creaming off 87 runs off 36 balls for the third wicket with Rinku Singh (48 not out off 22 balls), who also made merry with five huge sixes.

The total was India’s highest against Zimbabwe in T20 Internationals, surpassing previous best of 186, a fitting comeback after an inexplicable batting collapse in the opening game.

The Indian pacers despite the usage of long handle by No. 3 Bennett (26 off 9 balls) were on target as Mukesh cleaned up two batters with slightly back of the length off-cutters.

Avesh’s nasty snorter was something that opposition skipper Sikander Raza least expected while trying to fend being hit on the helmet.

Once Ravi Bishnoi (2/11 in 4 overs) and Washington Sundar (1/28 in 4 overs) came into operation, the Zimbabwe batters weren’t able to hit them.

The difference certainly was extra bounce generated by off-spinner Washington and the pace at which Bishnoi consistently bowled his googlies.

With the series levelled at 1-1, it is expected that Sanju Samson will replace Dhruv Jurel behind the stumps, Shivam Dube with his all-round skills will come in place of Sai Sudharsan and Riyan Parag might have to sacrifice his place for Jaiswal in the match scheduled on July 10.

A young-Indian cricket team under National Cricket Academy head VVS Laxman left for Zimbabwe to play a five-match T20I series starting in Harare on July 6. The team will be led by Shubman Gill while the likes of youngsters Riyan Parag and Abhishek Sharma have been rewarded for their exploits in the last IPL with maiden India call-ups. Skipper Gill, the reserve opener for the T20 World Cup, was on a break and will link up with the Zimbabwe-bound squad directly in Harare from the US.

The BCCI took to X to post pictures of those who boarded the flight, which includes Sharma, Parag, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Tushar Deshpande and NCA head Laxman.

Five members of the squad — Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh and Khaleel Ahmed were either part of the T20 World Cup-winning team or were travelling reserves are stranded in Barbados due to hurricane Beryl. They will join the squad later.

With Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja retiring form the shortest format of the game, the T20 series against Zimbabwe will provide the youngsters with the perfect opportunity to cement their places in the team for future series.

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Set

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India’s squad for T20I series against Zimbabwe: Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.

Sanjiv Goenka (L) and KL Rahul© X (formerly Twitter)