Abhishek Sharma celebrates his century during the second T20I match against Zimbabwe, at Harare Sports Club in Harare on July 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

India opener Abhishek Sharma has revealed that his mentor Yuvraj Singh was delighted when he got out for a duck on his T20I debut against Zimbabwe here as the swashbuckling former all-rounder, for reasons best known to him, felt it was a “good start”.

Making his India debut, Abhishek was out on duck as the Men in Blue lost the first T20I against hosts Zimbabwe by 13 runs on July 6. But the 23-year-old came back strongly to set the stage ablaze with a blistering maiden century (a 47-ball 100) to fashion India’s 100-run win in the second game a day later.

“I spoke to him yesterday (Saturday) also, and I don’t know why he was very happy when I got out on zero. He said that’s a good start but he must be very happy and proud just like my family,” Abhishek said in a video posted by BCCI.

He credited the hero of India’s 2011 World Cup triumph for not only helping him hone is skills on the cricket field but also supporting him in his life away from the field.

“It’s all because of him as well, the hard work he has put in (shaping) me. (For) two-three years, he has worked really hard not only on my cricket but off the field (life) as well.” After Sunday’s game, Abhishek called Yuvraj, who couldn’t be happier for the youngster.

“Well done very proud, you deserve it. Many more (such innings) to come this is just the start,” Yuvraj said.

Since there was no rest day in between the first two games, the visitors didn’t get a lot of time to think about the opening loss and that worked in India’s favour as they levelled the five-match series 1-1.

“We lost yesterday but I felt, today is my day and I should take the match to the end, the positive was that we didn’t have much time to think about the next game,” he pointed out.

Abhishek combined with Ruturaj Gaikwad (77 not out off 47 ball) for a match-winning 137-run stand for the second wicket.

“I was in a flow, and just wanted to express myself. I spoke to Rutu as well, he said the same thing that ‘don’t think much about the balls and hit what you think you can’,” he said.

He once again thanked India skipper on the tour and his Punjab teammate Shubman Gill for lending him his bat.

“Special thanks to Shubman who timely gave me his bat, this was a much-needed innings for me and the team.

“This has been going on from U-14 times. Whenever I play with his bat I have done well, today also, the same happened.

“I played with his bat only, which I got after a lot of difficulty, he doesn’t give it easily. That is like my last option when I feel I have to play with his bat for a comeback,” he quipped.

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 the five-game series.

This is India’s biggest 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 India posted a mammoth 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, however, certainly belonged to Abhishek, who mixed grace and power in equal measure in an innings embellished with eight sixes and seven fours.

The SRH batter opened his international run account with a pulled six off-spinner Brian Bennett, who had got the better of him in the first T20I.

Abhishek got a reprieve on 27 when Wellington Masakadza dropped a regulation skier off Luke Jongwe. There was no catching the youngster after that.

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.

Abhishek 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.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA

Shubman Gill c Bennett b Muzarabani 2 (4b), Abhishek Sharma c Myers b Masakadza 100 (47b, 7×4, 8×6), Ruturaj Gaikwad (not out) 77 (47b, 11×4, 1×6), Rinku Singh (not out) 48 (22b, 2×4, 5×6); Extras (w-7): 7; Total (for two wkts. in 20 overs): 234.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-10 (Gill, 1.2 overs), 2-147 (Abhishek, 13.6).

ZIMBABWE BOWLING

Bennett 2-0-22-0, Muzarabani 4-1-30-1, Chatara 4-0-38-0, Raza 3-0-34-0, Jongwe 4-0-53-0, Myers 1-0-28-0, Masakadza 2-0-29-1.

ZIMBABWE

Innocent Kaia b Mukesh 4 (3b, 1×4), Wessly Madhevere b Bishnoi 43 (39b, 3×4, 1×6), Brian Bennett b Mukesh 26 (9b, 1×4, 3×6), Dion Myers c Rinku b Avesh 0 (1b), Sikandar Raza c Jurel b Avesh 4 (4b, 1×4), Johnathan Campbell c Bishnoi b Washington 10 (18b), Clive Madande lbw b Bishnoi 0 (4b), Wellington Masakadza run out 1 (3b), Luke Jongwe c Ruturaj b Mukesh 33 (26b, 4×4), Blessing Muzarabani c Washington b Avesh 2 (4b), Tendai Chatara (not out) 0 (2b); Extras (lb-2, w-8, nb-1): 11; Total (in 18.4 overs): 134.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-4 (Kaia, 0.3), 2-40 (Bennett, 2.6), 3-41 (Myers, 3.2), 4-46 (Raza, 3.6), 5-72 (Campbell, 9.4), 6-73 (Madande, 10.3), 7-76 (Masakadza, 11.1), 8-117 (Madhevere, 16.3), 9-123 (Muzarabani, 17.4).

INDIA BOWLING

Mukesh 3.4-0-37-3, Abhishek 3-0-36-0, Avesh 3-0-15-3, Bishnoi 4-0-11-2, Washington 4-0-28-1, Parag 1-0-5-0.

Toss: India. PoM: Abhishek.

India won by 100 runs to level the five-match series 1-1.

Zimbabwe players celebrate a wicket during the first T20 international match against India in Harare on July 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Having hurt the Shubman Gill-led India hard in the opening T20I in Harare, Zimbabwe spinner Wellington Masakadza said the tourists should take the home side lightly at their own risk, and added that they will exploit the home conditions to the maximum to win the five-match series.

A new-look India team suffered a 13-run loss to an inexperienced yet spirited Zimbabwe side in an upset of massive proportion.

India, who were recently crowned champions in the T20 World Cup albeit with a different set of players, were expected to blow away the Zimbabwean challenge when they restricted the home side to 115 for nine.

But Zimbabwe wrote their own script, reducing India to 28 for four in the Powerplay and then eventually bowling them out for 102 in 19.5 overs.

It was India’s first loss in T20Is in 2024 and first against Zimbabwe in eight years.

Masakadza, who finished with figures of 1/15 in three overs, said: “We are trying to use our own conditions as much as we can against this Indian side. It’s a second-string Indian side, but there are a lot of good players in there. So, we are looking forward to this series,” Masakadza said in an interview with PTI Videos facilitated by broadcasters Sony Sports Network.

“We’ve had a few plans in place. We needed them to work and obviously, we are trying to use our own conditions as much as we can against this Indian side.” Masakadza, who dismissed tail-ender Avesh Khan on Saturday, said he was eyeing captain Shubman Gill’s wicket now.

“I’ll be looking to take Shubman Gill’s big wicket and some of the right-handers, (Riyan) Parag and some of the other guys in the side.

“It will be a very good challenge. They’re (Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sundar) very good spinners. Bishnoi has just had a very good tournament in the IPL and also Sundar. So it’s always a very good challenge to have Asian spinners.” With Harare enjoying a winter season as it is in the Southern Hemisphere, the left-arm spinner said the home team pacers, due to their familiarity with the pitch, will likely trouble the Indian batters.

“It’s winter here and at times it’s a bit difficult for batters as the pitch is slowish, with a bit of turn. The seam is always a very big challenge in Harare during winter. So, I think the ball will move a bit and it will spin also,” said Masakadza, a veteran of 90 T20Is.

He added that a series win will be a shot in the arm for Zimbabwe cricket, which has been on the decline for several years.

“This series will mean a lot to us. If we manage to win the series, it will be a very big thing in our future.” “We’re starting a new chapter, we have had our ups and downs in the past. We’ve just had a new coaching staff. So I just think from now on, this is a big thing for us and we’ll be looking forward to making a few plans to get ourselves across the line,” said the 30-year-old, who, like his skipper Sikandar Raza, wants to play in the IPL.

Pakistan-born Raza played for Punjab Kings this IPL season, scoring 43 runs in two games. On Saturday, he was adjudged ‘Player of the Match’ for taking three wickets and scoring 17 runs.

“Definitely, it’s always a good thing to go out there and play in those leagues. I will look to take some wickets in this series. That can be good for me to get a gig (IPl contract).”

NCA head VVS Laxman-coached Team India left for Zimbabwe on July 2, 2024. Photo: X/@BCCI

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.

Sudharsan, Jitesh and Rana added to India’s squad

The trio of Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma and Harshit Rana was on July 2 named as replacements for Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Indian squad for the first two matches of the T20I series against Zimbabwe.

Dube, Samson and Jaiswal, all part of the T20 World Cup-winning squad, were slated to join the Zimbabwe-bound group but are stranded in Barbados due to hurricane Beryl.

The trio is set to fly back home, along with the other players, aboard a charter flight on July 2 evening and arrive in India on Wednesday at 7.45pm (IST). The players will later be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

The unforseen circumstances has forced BCCI to name replacements for the three players.

Pacer Khaleel Ahmed and batter Rinku Singh, travelling reserves for the T20 World Cup, are also currently in Barbados. The BCCI has not named replacements for the duo even though they are in the squad for Zimbabwe series.

Sudharsan is currently playing county cricket for Surrey at the Oval in London. He is expected to leave for Harare immediately.

India’s updated squad for first two T20Is against Zimbabwe

Shubman Gill (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande, Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Harshit Rana.