File photo of Shubman Gill.© AFP

VVS Laxman, who served as India’s head coach for the five-match series T20I against Zimbabwe, honoured star finisher Rinku Singh with the ‘Fielder of the Series’ award following their 4-1 triumph. India began the post-Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma T20I era by capping off the series with an imposing 42-run win in the fifth match on Sunday. Even without the presence of the stalwart duo, the tradition of handing the ‘Fielder of the Series’ continued in the new era. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted a video of the ceremony on X, with Subhadeep Ghosh announcing the winner of the medal.

Before the ceremony, he showed a video message from former India fielding coach T Dilip, who emphasised the importance of fielding.

“Boys, fielding has always been a paramount to us in Indian cricket, and it’s an aspect of the game where we have set high standards over the years. We should aim to continue to strive for excellence in this area. As we all know, we follow a tradition, which is the fielding medal. The medal is given to a player that makes a significant impact in the game with their fielding,” Dilip said.

Ghosh, who served as India’s fielding coach for the series, hailed each player for the contribution that they made during the series. While talking about the importance of catches, Ghosh announced Rinku as the winner of the ‘Fielder of the Series’ award.

“Another good day in fielding. I think it was a terrific effort from each and every one. I think, in the last five months, we have been thrown into different scenarios and different challenges. As I always say, catching is very, very important. If you take the catches, you can control the game, and you can dominate the game, which we did today,” Ghosh said.

“Every time he steps on the ground, I think he always says, I stand up. I think he always steps on the ground, putting no tools from me. I think this is going to Rinku Singh,” he concluded.

Ghosh called Laxman to present the medal to Rinku for the efforts that he made throughout the series that saw him complete six catches.

“I really enjoyed playing with everyone. It was my 4th or 5th series, so I really enjoyed it. To be honest, I like batting and fielding a lot. I enjoy it a lot. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun to run. So what else can I say, God’s Plan,” Rinku said.

India’s next tour will be against Sri Lanka, marking the first assignment of new head coach Gautam Gambhir.

The tour will begin with a three-match T20I series on July 27 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. The T20I series will be followed by a three-match ODI series, beginning on August 2 at R Premadasa Stadium.

After leading India to a 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe, Shubman Gill believes that captaincy “brings out the best in him” as he discovered the side of him that he really enjoyed on the field. Gill, who narrowly missed selection for the T20 World Cup, was one of India’s standout performers in their 4-1 series triumph over Zimbabwe, which concluded in Harare on Sunday. As opener and captain, the right-hander amassed a series-best 170 runs at an average of 42.50, performing admirably in both roles.

The Zimbabwe series marked Gill’s first time captaining India at the senior level, and the 24-year-old acknowledged he enjoyed the experience. As the search for Rohit’s successor as skipper continues, Gill’s leadership will be under consideration ahead of India’s white-ball series in Sri Lanka later this month and the three home matches against Bangladesh later in the year.

“It is something that I definitely enjoy. I think it brings out the best in me when I am out there because I look to be involved in the game. It is something that really brings out the side of me which I enjoy being on the field,” said Gill on captaincy.

“There was pressure, I wouldn’t say extra pressure but obviously, even when you are playing just as a batter when you don’t perform there is a certain kind of pressure that comes along with it.

“But I think that’s the fun part of it. You kind of feel so many different emotions. Pressure is one of them. And when you get out of that, the satisfaction that you feel is immense,” he added.

Gill further said he learned plenty from playing under Rohit in recent times, but also picked up leadership qualities from a host of other India players as he seeks to become a permanent fixture in all three formats for his country.

“You can take qualities from Rohit bhai or even Mahi (MS Dhoni) bhai, Virat bhai, Hardik (Pandya) bhai, all of them. All of them have great qualities. I have played the most under Rohit bhai, so he is someone who I look up to and really enjoy playing under,” said Gill.

Gill wasn’t the only India batter to perform well against Zimbabwe, with fellow young gun Yashasvi Jaiswal (141 runs) and the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad (133) and Abhishek Sharma (124) all managing scores in excess of 50 during the series.

He believes that the competition for selection among the next crop of top-order batters will significantly boost the reigning T20 World Cup champions.

“It’s a good thing that everyone’s performing. It shows that everyone is hungry and nobody is ready to take it easy. For any country or board, that’s always a good thing.

“Anyone who got the opportunity grabbed it with both hands. The openers to bowlers to allrounders to spinners, everyone made a mark and I think the selectors have now seen everything and it’s up to them to name the squad for the next series (in Sri Lanka),” he said.

Vice-captain Sanju Samson smashed his second T20I fifty through a 45-ball 58, while fast-bowler Mukesh Kumar picked his career-best figures in the format through 4-22 as India beat Zimbabwe by 42 runs in the fifth and final game at the Harare Sports Club to win the series 4-1. Samson was at his languid best, hitting a four and four sixes in his knock, while sharing a 65-run stand off 56 balls for the fourth wicket with Riyan Parag, to bail India out of trouble after losing their top three batters in powerplay.

The wicetkeeper-batter slammed a 110-metre six during the game. It was so big that the ball went out of the ground.

Brandon Mavuta tossed up the ball outside off stump and Samson slammed it down the ground for the biggie.

Watch it here:

While Samson scored a solid half-century, Dube’s quick cameo of 26 along with some lofty hits at the end from Rinku Singh took India to a competitive 167/6, as 30 runs came off the last two overs. In reply, Mukesh struck twice with the new ball to put Zimbabwe in early trouble.

Dion Myers and Tadiwanashe Marumani kept Zimbabwe in the hunt, but a collapse saw the hosts’ go from 85/3 to 94/7 and be eventually all out for 125 in 18.3 overs, as India got a strong series win after losing the opening match by 13 runs.

Mukesh gave India a brilliant start in their defence of 168 when Wesley Madhevere chopped on to his stumps in the opening over. The pacer came back in the third over to have Brian Bennett flashing hard at outside the off-stump and was caught by third man. He could have got his third wicket if he hadn’t overstepped while castling Myers.

Myers and Marumani hit seven boundaries between themselves to lead Zimbabwe’s fight with a 44-run stand off 36 balls for the third wicket. But Washington Sundar broke the partnership by trapping a sweeping Marumani lbw with a slower delivery in the ninth over.

Myers hit Abhishek Sharma for a four and six to keep Zimbabwe on track, but Dube took him out in the 13th over with a short ball cramping the batter for room and was caught off a leading edge by backward point.

Sikandar Raza being run out in a mix-up with Johnathan Campbell by a direct hit from Dube, who took out the latter in the next over was a jolt Zimbabwe couldn’t recover from. From there, Abhishek and Tushar Deshpande got a wicket each, while Mukesh took remaining two scalps to finish with a four-fer in another convincing win for India.

Earlier, Yashasvi Jaiswal gave India a blistering start by swatting Raza for consecutive sixes on the first two balls of the innings, including off a no-ball. But Raza struck back by getting the ball to come in late and go past Jaiswal’s attempted on-drive to send the leg-stump on a walk.

Abhishek was lucky to have been dropped by Bennett at cover-point off Blessing Muzarabani, but the pacer bounced back by having the left-handed batter nick behind an angled across delivery to Madande.

Shubman Gill didn’t look much fluent in his stay at the crease, and was dismissed by Richard Ngarava when he tried to top-edged a pull to mid-on. In rebuilding India’s innings, Samson dealt majorly in boundaries – striking three wonderful sixes with his beautiful bat-swing, including a monstrous 110m hit.

Brandon Mavuta gave Zimbabwe the breakthrough when Parag miscued his loft to long-off. But Samson marched forward by smashing boundaries to get his fifty, before pulling straight to deep mid-wicket and fall for 45-ball 58 off Muzarabani.

Dube hit four cracking boundaries in his 12-ball 26 before a miscommunication with Rinku led to his run-out in the final over. Rinku lofted Faraz Akram down the ground for six, as 14 runs came off the final over.

For Zimbabwe, Blessing Muzarabani was the pick of bowlers with 2/19 in his four overs, while their fielding, despite good catches being taken, had some lapses – three dropped chances, along with some fumbles, an aspect which hurt them throughout the series apart from their feeble batting returns.

(With IANS Inputs)

Shubman Gill and Sikandar Raza during toss at India vs Zimbabwe 5th T20I© AFP

Following his side’s series win against Zimbabwe, Indian all-rounder Riyan Parag, who made his international debut in this series, said that it was special making his first appearance in Indian colours along with under-19 teammate Abhishek Sharma and lauded skipper Shubman Gill for his leadership skills throughout the five-match affair. A fine four-wicket spell by Mukesh Kumar and a half-century by Sanju Samson were the highlights as India defeated Zimbabwe by 42 runs in the fifth and final T20I at Harare to secure the series on Sunday.

Speaking after the game in the post-match presentation, Parag said that everyone “woke up” after a loss in the first game. He also said that he and Abhishek, both teammates from the 2018 U19 World Cup, opened their jerseys from the packaging together when they got it.

“We opened our jerseys together. I went to his room, he opened it first and then I did. We played the 2018 World Cup together and for the next 6 years we did not play, now we are playing. Doing it with him was pretty special,” said Parag.

On his partnership with Rajasthan Royals (RR) teammate Sanju Samson, Parag said that he had a talk with the wicketkeeper-batter about having a partnership like they used to have while batting for RR together at numbers three and four, respectively.

“Once we had wickets in the end, we could go big and it was a tricky wicket, glad we could do well,” he added.

On playing with skipper Gill, Parag said that it was nice playing under Gill, who has been playing with him since he was in under-16 cricket.

“He has been like a captain, even when he was not captain. In the field, he has been exceptional,” he added.

Parag did not have a memorable debut though, coming after scoring 573 runs in 16 matches in the IPL 2024 for RR. He could score just 24 runs in two innings and did not get any wicket.

India has won the series 4-1.

Coming to the match, Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field first. They had India at 40/3 at one point until a 65-run partnership between Sanju Samson (58 in 45 balls, with a four and four sixes) and Riyan Parag (22 in 24 balls, with a six) and a fine cameo from Shivam Dube (26 in 12 balls, with two fours and two sixes) took India to 167/6 in their 20 overs.

Blessing Muzarbani (2/19) was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe. Richard Ngarva, Sikandar Raza, and Brandon Mavuta also got a wicket each.

In the run-chase, Zimbabwe had a fine start and was in the game for a good amount of time, until Shivam Dube (2/25) delivered a game-changing spell and a quick run-out of Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza. Dion Myers (34 in 32 balls, with four boundaries and a six), Tadiwanashe Marumani (27 in 24 balls, with five fours) and Faraz Akram (27 in 13 balls, with two fours and two sixes) put up a fight for Zimbabwe, but Mukesh Kumar (4/22) cleaned up the tail.

Zimbabwe was bundled out for 125 runs, losing by 42 runs with nine balls left.

Shivam secured the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his all-round performance. Washington Sundar, who scored 28 runs in two innings with the best score of 27 and took eight wickets in the series, was given the ‘Player of the Series’ award.

File photo of Shivam Dube.© AFP

Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag have been together since U19 days and even went on to win the 2018 U19 World Cup trophy as members of the Indian team. Six years later, paths of Abhishek and Riyan crossed again in Indian colours when the duo got to make their senior India men’s T20I debuts on tour of Zimbabwe. After India won fifth and final T20I by 42 runs to win series 4-1, Abhishek told broadcasters how he never imagined he would make his international debut alongside Riyan. “Last few games it was pretty good for bowling and as Riyan said after the 1st game we all woke up.”

“Positive was the next match was next day so we did not have time to think too much. We were talking about this in the IPL, if we get our caps it will be a dream come true. We never thought we will debut together. We spoke about it long back and it happened,” said Abhishek.

Riyan, too, echoed in same vein. “Feels great. After the 1st game everyone woke up and we were clinical after that. Really proud of the boys and enjoyed it to the max. We (him and Abhishek) opened our jerseys together.”

“I went to his room, he opened it first and then I did. We played the 2018 World Cup together and next 6 years we did not play, now we are playing. Doing it with him was pretty special.”

In the series, Abhishek made a good impression with a 47-ball century and even picked some wickets with his left-arm spin bowling. “Special mention to Shubman (Gill) and coaches for trusting in my bowling after the first two games, where I did not bowl well also.”

“I’m working hard on my bowling and it’s good to have the backing from the management. We all saw (World Championship of Legends final) and it is always special when you play Pakistan and even more so when it’s a final, congrats to my mentor (Yuvraj Singh).”

Riyan was involved in a crucial 65-run stand off 56 balls for the fourth wicket with vice-captain Sanju Samson, who made a 45-ball 58 on Sunday. “I had a chat with Sanju bhaiya and spoke that now we had to build a RR (Rajasthan Royals) partnership. Once we had wickets in the end, we could go like hell and it was a tricky wicket, glad we could do well.”

He signed off by saying playing under Shubman Gill’s leadership was fun for him. “It has been fun, we have played age group together, under-16. He has been like a captain even when he was not captain. In the field he has been exceptional.”

File photo of Indian cricket team.© AFP

Sanju Samson‘s well-crafted fifty and Mukesh Kumar‘s disciplined spell helped India wind up their Zimbabwe tour with a comprehensive 42-run victory in the fifth and final T20I in Harare on Sunday. With this win, India clinched the series 4-1. Samson’s (58, 45b) was central to India’s healthy 167 for six along with Shivam Dube‘s flashy 26 (12b). Then the India bowlers led by Mukesh (4/22), Shivam Dube (2/25) and Washington Sundar (1/7) did their job, bundling out Zimbabwe for 125 in 18.3 overs.

After the early dismissal of Wessly Madhevere, who dragged the third ball of the first over by pacer Mukesh onto his stumps, and Brian Bennett, the pair of Tadiwanashe Marumani (27) and Dion Myers (34) added 44 runs for the third wicket to keep the hosts in the hunt.

Marumani’s switch-hit four off leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who went for a few runs in this match, was quite stunning in its execution.

But such shots were few and far between from the Zimbabwe batters.

Marumani went for a sweep shot against Washington but missed the line altogether as the ball crashed on to his upper torso to get adjudged as leg-before.

Dube tailed a shuffling Myers with a quicker delivery onto his body, and the Zimbabwe batter merely chipped the ball to Abhishek Sharma at short third man.

The final nail on their hope was the run out of skipper Sikandar Raza (8), which came in a cartwheel of four wickets for nine runs.

Mukesh, who bagged his career-best T20 figure, fittingly ended Zimbabwe innings going through the gate of Richard Ngarava.

Earlier, Samson (1×4, 4×6) and Riyan Parag (22, 24b) added 65 runs for the fourth wicket as India recovered from a middling Power Play in which they scored 44 for three.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (12), who made an unbeaten 93 in the fourth T20I, started the proceedings with two sixes in the first two balls of the innings bowled by Raza.

But in the fourth ball of the same over, Jaiswal played the wrong line to a delivery on the middle and leg stump to get bowled.

Abhishek, who was dropped on 10 by Bennett off Blessing Muzarabani, did not last long, edging the pacer two balls later to Clive Madande behind the wicket.

Skipper Shubman Gill, who received a reprieve on 11, was never in his fluent self and smashed left-arm seamer Ngarava straight into the hands of Raza in the deep.

At 44 for three, India needed a partnership to steady the innings. Samson and Parag provided just that.

Their alliance was all about prudence than theatrics, choosing the correct delivery to punish.

It was the right approach too considering the pitch was not precisely a belter as it was in the previous two matches, offering a hint of turn.

However, Samson showed his aggressive side when the opportunity presented itself.

He biffed leg-spinner Brandon Mavuto for two sixes in a row and the second shot was a little marvel.

Mavuto angled the ball into Samson’s leg-stump, but the right-hander gave himself enough space to carve that over extra cover for a maximum.

Samson brought up his fifty in 39 balls, his second in T20Is, but Parag departed as India were looking for some late acceleration.

The right-hander perished to Mavuto while looking to clear the fence, and Samson too could not carry on till the end of the innings.

He took on Muzarabani, the most impressive among home side bowlers, but ended up giving a catch to tumbling Marumani.

However, the tourists found some late steam through Dube’s fireworks.