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India beat Zimbabwe 4-1 in the recently concluded five-match T20I series held at the Harare Sports Club. The Men in Blue were stunned by 13 runs in the opening match of the series. However, the Shubman Gill-led side fought back strongly to win the next four matches by comprehensive margins and clinch the series.
Skipper Gill finished as the leading run-getter in the series, smashing 170 runs from five innings at an average of 42.50 and a strike rate of 125.93. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal also impressed, scoring 141 runs in three innings at an average of 70.50 and a strike rate of 165.88. Ruturaj Gaikwad (133 runs from three innings) and Abhishek Sharma (124 runs from four innings) also did well.
Among bowlers, off-spinner Washington Sundar and Mukesh Kumar were the joint-leading wicket-takers in the five-match T20I series. While Sundar claimed eight wickets in five matches, Kumar picked up eight scalps in three games. Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi and fast bowler Avesh Khan also impressed with six wickets each.
While there were several good performances from Indian players in the series against Zimbabwe, a few of them failed to grab their opportunities. On that note, let's look at three Indian players who majorly disappointed in the Zimbabwe T20Is.
#1 Riyan Parag
Riyan Parag was handed his international debut in Zimbabwe on the back of an impressive IPL 2024 season. He was dismissed for 2 on his India debut. The right-handed batter looked to play an on-the-up drive against Tendai Chatara in the first T20I. However, the ball bounced a little extra and Riyan only managed to give a catch to mid-off, with the stroke coming off the splice off his bat.
The 22-year-old got another chance to make a mark in the fifth and final T20I. On this occasion, he got a start and reached 22 with the aid of a six. However, he could not convert the knock into a big score. Riyan was caught at long-off, miscuing an attempted big hit off leg-spinner Brandon Mavuta.
#2 Khaleel Ahmed
Left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed played three matches for India in the T20I series against Zimbabwe in Harare and managed to pick up only three wickets. He had a decent economy rate of 6.81, but his strike rate of 22 could have been better.
The 26-year-old registered figures of 0-28 from three overs in the first T20I of the series. Khaleel's best performance came in the third T20I as he registered figures of 1-15 from four overs. The left-arm pacer claimed the wicket of Tadiwanashe Marumani, who looked to smack one over mid-on but was caught in the ring.
Khaleel registered figures of 2-32 from four overs in the fourth T20I, which India won by 10 wickets. Both his scalps, though, came in the last over of Zimbabwe's innings. He did not have much of an impact before that. In the last over of the innings, he had Dion Myers caught and bowled off a pace-off delivery and also had Clive Madande caught in the deep as the batter miscued his pull.
#3 Tushar Deshpande
Like Riyan, pacer Tushar Deshpande also made his T20I debut on the back of some impressive performances in the IPL. He played two matches and picked up two wickets. However, he proved to be rather expensive, going at an economy rate of 9.16.
The 29-year-old Mumbai pacer made his India debut in the fourth T20I. He registered figures of 1-30 from three overs. Deshpande conceded five boundaries in his three-over spell and got the wicket of Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza with a slower off-cutter. Raza got a top edge that went straight to his opposite number Gill at extra cover.
Deshpande proved expensive in the fifth T20I as well, registering figures of 1-25 from three overs. He conceded four boundaries on this occasion and got the wicket of Brandon Mavuta, who pulled a short ball back to the bowler.
