India vs Zimbabwe 1st T20I 2024 Highlights: ZIM beat IND by 13 runs in Harare

We bowled pretty well, we let ourselves down in the field. We were not up to standard and everyone looked a bit rusty. We spoke about taking time and enjoying our batting but it didn't pan out that way. Halfway through we had lost 5 wickets, would've been best for us if I stayed there till the end, very disappointed with the way I got out and the rest of the match panned out. There was a bit of hope for us but when you're chasing 115 and your no.10 batter is out there, you know something is wrong.

Just wanted to play throughout the innings, tried to get as many as we could. Tried to protect my partner, ended up getting 115 which was okay on this wicket. Told him (Chatara) simple things, I tried to let him play just 2 balls in an over. We told the boys to give it our all and to give our 100% no matter what.

Sundar tried to hoik a pull shot on the leg-side to get the top edge and Muzrambani took a calm catch under pressure to close things out for Zimbabwe. That was an excellent final over by Chatara under pressure Sundar though kept his calm did not have the power in the end to close out the game for India. Who would have thought the World Champions got unstuck by Zimbabwe in this opening encounter still five games to go but it is a wake-up call for India. 

India needs 16 runs to win in the final over and Chatara has taken the ball for Zimbabwe here. It is going to be difficult as the softball has been harder to hit. It might be wise for him to try and play behind the wicket and square of the wicket.  

The over from Jongwe is what the doctor ordered for India. Sundar smacked one for six early in the over and that put immense pressure on the bowler he lost his line later in the over he delivered a bowl on the leg side which deftly touched for another boundary. Zimbabwe bowlers are feeling the pressure suddenly. 

Raza has picked up his third wicket here. This has been a fabulous spell from the off-spinner he could not have an impact with the bat but he delivered the goods with the ball as he picked up three wickets. It is time Sundar starts taking on the bowling here now. 

Avesh Khan is the latest batter who is being dismissed. The batter tried to clear the long-on fielder and was caught at the boundary. It will be interesting to see when Sundar will decide now or never and start to take the bowling Mukesh and Khaleel or not-capable batters who can score boundaries from here on. 

Sikander Raza has bowled another decent over here. They are chipping away Zimbabwe here with the overs. Sundar too is batting with controlled aggression at the moment. As we update there is a misfield near the boundary which went for a four. 

Jongwe is bowling well here too all the Zimbabwe bowlers bowled well here led by Sikandar Raza. The first target for India is to take this game as deep as possible and close it from there hope Zimbabwe bowlers make a mistake in the final overs under pressure. 

Another one bites the dust for India it is Bishnoi this time who tried to come down the track and work Raza on the leg-side and was trapped in front of the wicket. India has just three wickets remaining with plenty of work yet to do from here on. 

The crowd has gone vocal here and Zimbabwe can see the win here. The rate too has gone up now drastically for India. Sundar is the only batter who is recognized batter from here on all others are proper number eleven from here on for their franchises. 

Sikandar Raza comes into attack and picks Shubman Gill. The batter tried to play the ball down the ground and got the inside edge and onto the pads and the ball hit the stumps. This now feels like Zimbabwe's game from here on. 

Jongwe comes in and picks the wicket of Jurel. The ball was floated up nicely and the batter hit it straight to the mid-wicket fielder in the ring. India has lost half of their side now this is an inspired bowling performance from Zimbabwe thus far.

Spin back into attack from Zimbabwe it is Maskadza and Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel will be seeing this as an opportunity to inject some momentum into the innings. The wicket too seems to be calmed down a bit after that initial moment with the new ball. 

The game seems to have gotten stale now Raza has used third overs of Chatara and Muzrambani here and both batters Shubman Gill and Jurel too seem to be not bothered about taking the bowlers on and letting the overs go and attacking spinners later on. 

Another tight over from Zimbabwe. Shubman Gill had a couple of close calls here with LBW decisions but he got away both times. Both times the ball has missed the stumps. Jurel is in the middle with the Indian skipper at the moment and both are temperamentally sound. 

Muzarambani has started well here he is getting the bowl to move both ways which is an invaluable skill in any format of the game. The good thing is he also found the right lengths on this surface. Chatara has been brought into the attack for a third over here. 

Well well, two wickets have fallen in Chatara's over first it was Riyan Parag who tried to clear the mid-off fielder and failed and then it was Rinku Singh who tried to pull the short ball and the ball went high in the air and the fine-leg fielder took a simple catch. Stunning start for Zimbabwe.

That is a good over from Muzharabani he is operating from the same end as Mukesh did in the first innings and when the ball has hit hard-lenght and it takes off. Gaikwad tried to guide the ball through the third-man region and the ball bounced a touch more and edge carried to slip. This game is getting interesting now. 

Chatara has been brought in and he too delivered another economical over. This is a tight start by Zimbabwe they have not bowled any loose deliveries and are making the Indian batters work for their runs early in the piece. 

This is good attacking captaincy from Raza he realized the pitch is on the slower side and is using his spinners right from the first over. Shubman Gill's cut shot has opened India's attack but the first couple of overs are an indication that Raza is a captain who thinks on his feet.

Bennet takes the first over for Zimbabwe Abhishek Sharma tries to play in an aggressive fashion and pulls the ball but gets a toe end the ball carries to the mid-wicket fielder. It is a forgettable debut for Abhishek. Raza has deployed two spinners from either end now. 

Hardik Pandya has been through a roller-coaster of emotions, on and off the field, in recent months, and few people have witnessed what the all-rounder went through in his low phase as closely as Ishan Kishan.

Now that Hardik is enjoying a redemption of sorts after playing a key role in India’s triumph at the T20 World Cup, the memories of the home crowd at Wankhede Stadium booing the new Mumbai Indians captain, after he returned from Gujarat Titans to replace icon Rohit Sharma, seem a relic of the past. It makes Kishan, who spent around four months with Hardik before the last IPL season and the T20 World Cup, particularly happy. (Read more from Pratyush Raj)

Well, Madande's cameo has taken Zimbabwe to 115 which still seems like 20-30 short on this wicket but the final wicket partnership did induce some momentum into Zimbabwe innings. As per India, it has been an impressive performance from the spinners and it is now down to the batters to get these runs without any fluttering. 

We are going into the final Chatara has blocked everything with no intention of strike rotation from his end. As per Indian seamers they have not tried to use yorkers which is a bit of a surprise at this stage of the game. They just are continuing to hit hard lengths and hoping Zimbabwe batters would make a mistake.

Avesh Khan has been brought into the attack. He alongside Mukesh will close out the innings here for India. Zimbabwe batters looked a lot more comfortable against pacers than spinners. If they need to compete they need to come up with a plan to face Indian spinners do Zimbabwe.

Sundar bowls out an excellent comeback for the youngster. He bowled it quicker and flatter through the air and stuck to his lengths. All in all an excellent bowling performance from the Indian spinners today.

Bishnoi picked a couple more wickets in his final over to reduce Zimbabwe to nine down by the end of the 16th over. As expected the batting got even more difficult once the ball got softer. If Zimbabwe had gotten themselves to around the 140 mark it would have been a competitive total now it is way too low and seems like they will fall way short of it.

Sundar gets his third over first he picks Myers who slams back a bowl that was bowled quicker through the air and Sundar takes a return catch and then Maskadza a left-hander Sundar tosses one up slightly outside the off-stump and Maskadza trying to drive loses balance and gets stumped by Jurel.

Bishnoi has come back into the attack replacing Avesh. It is going to be an uphill task for Zimbabwe lower order batters they would have not faced a leg-spinner like Ravi Bishnoi before today who predominantly bowls googlies than leg-spinners. As we update Sundar picked Myers

Sundar bowled a couple here and that is the fifth bowler done for Shubman. He operated well here WRT to using his fifth bowler quota. Not every day would be as easy today for him but whatever bowling change he has made worked beautifully.

First, it was Sikandar Raza who tried to whack the Avesh through the mid-wicket region and was caught by Bishnoi on the boundary then Campbell dabbed the ball and took a couple of steps with the ball only reaching till point fielder and Myers from the other end reached batters end and both batters ended up at the same end and the Indians calmly remove bails from non-striker end and Campbell has been given out as Myers was into the crease and Campbell was lingering outside.

Sundar has been brought into the attack and he started well. Once again another modern finger spinner trying to bowl quicker through the air and not giving batters enough time to free their arms. The scoring has gone done a bit here for Zimbabwe.

It is an interesting tactic from Shubman to use Avesh this late in the game. Usually, Rajasthan Royals have used him in the Powerplay whereas Mukesh Kumar who took the new ball today was used majorly at the death by Delhi Capitals. 

Gill gave Abhishek another over and it was once again an over where he did not get his length right. Despite there being some turn from his end he has bowled it shorter and quicker through the air. As we update Avesh Khan has been brought into the attack.

Madhevere's idea to sweep Bishnoi was right as most of Bishnoi's googlies will turn into the right-hander however, the issue was execution and his predictability to sweep everything. Bishnoi slightly altered the length and pulled it back the batter missed and the ball hit the stumps. 

With two right-handers in the middle Gill has turned to left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma who started well. There is a bit of turn-on offer for him however, he bowled a bit on the shorter side and quicker through the air. As per Zimbabwe Sikander Raza is in the middle and he is their main man.

A wicket maiden from Ravi Bishnoi it us his googly which Bennet could not pick up trying to drive the ball through covers. The ball brushed through the off-stump and was not clear if the bail fell because of Jurel's intervention or ball itself hence umpires sent it upstairs whereas the third umpire decided it is because of the ball and Zimbabwe lost two.

Expensive over from Khaleel 17 came of it. While Khaleel is a new ball specialist Shubman Gill got greedy by giving Khaleel third over to pick a wicket on a surface there is not much help for the seamers. Both Bennet and Madhevere predicting the length Mukesh bowled lined him up and scored their boundaries.

It has not been an easy surface for batters to get the boundaries away. Also, Indians have been pretty good with their lengths. While Shubman Gill feels that the pitch will be the same through forty overs it might get slower as the game progresses. 

There has been a conscious effort from Khaleel to pull the length back and there seems to be a bit of dampness in the surface one of Mukesh's deliveries when hit hard length bounced higher and took the splice of Bennet's bat as we update one of Mukesh's took off from length yet again and hit the helmet of Madhevere

Mukesh Kumar pitched one up which Kaia tried to drive and got the inside edge onto the stumps. The colour of the pitch is black seems like it is a bit on the slower side and Indian bowlers have found the right length and pace for this surface early in the piece. 

Khaleel Ahmed took the new ball for India and it has been a decent over. There was not much of a seam moment on the offer hence he tried to bowl good-length areas which worked well. Madhevere started the Zimbabwe innings with a gorgeous straight drive. As we update Mukesh picks Kaia.

The national anthems are done! The atmosphere is buzzing in the stadium. It is afternoon in Harare it is not hot the conditions seem ideal for playing cricket. It is a young Indian team and it is an opportunity for selectors and everyone to see how Shubman Gill leads the side in this opening fixture. 

Apart from more tours and games, Zimbabwe Cricket is planning to build a national cricket academy, refurbish the domestic league and install indoor training facilities at all five domestic centres. Madande is optimistic that his country would rediscover his giant-scalping mojo, so that he and his teammates could inspire more youngsters to fall in love with the game, as he had a decade ago.

Tadiwanashe Marumani, Innocent Kaia, Brian Bennett, Sikandar Raza(c), Dion Myers, Johnathan Campbell, Clive Madande(w), Wessly Madhevere, Luke Jongwe, Blessing Muzarabani, Tendai Chatara

Shubman Gill(c), Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel(w), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed

Slight covering of grass. Would dry out quickly. The surface won't change much. Good batting wicket. 150 is the average score at Harare in the last 10-12 games but don't think that would be enough on this deck.

I don't mind batting first. The wicket looks good. Zimbabwe cricket has trusted me with this transition phase. I look for young boys to come out and fight. It is humbling to lead this bunch. Sean has retired. It is a young side. Ervine will have a role in future.

We will field first. I think it looks like a good surface. It won't change much later. It has been long coming. We won an ICC event after 11 years. You always have some expectations from yourself. We have three debutants. Sharma, Jurel and Parag make their debuts.

While much of their roadmap will be clear only after a new head coach takes over, India’s immediate focus is very much on Test cricket, especially the tour of Australia later this year. The Indian Express understands that keeping the gruelling schedule ahead, which will see them play 10 Tests between September to January, India are prepared to try out young guns in the T20Is and ODIs even for the tour of Sri Lanka that follows soon after the Zimbabwe trip.

Which means, unless the new head coach wants a full-strength squad, the selectors are planning to rest all the seniors till the home season which begins in the third week of September.

A new-look T20 side will be in action when Shubman Gill’s India will face Sikandar Raza-led Zimbabwe in the first T20I at the Harare Sports Club in Harare on Saturday.

In the first glance of India’s T20I future after the retirements of World Cup-winning captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, India will field a young squad brimmed with IPL talent as the roadmap to the 2026 T20 World Cup begins in Zimbabwe.

The hosts will hope to make the most of India’s off-season tour to the nation. Raza’s side is hosting a bunch of new faces who will be aiming to put Zimbabwe back on the radar after they missed out on the T20 World Cup in the Americas.

Though India have traditionally sent second-string squads for their off-season tour of Zimbabwe, the core of the team in Harare is expected to form the nucleus of the T20 side going forward. Like it has been the case before, at present the squad in Zimbabwe is again top-heavy with Jaiswal, Gill, Gaikwad and Abhishek – all openers – expected to bat out of position. “Rohit bhai and Virat bhai opened at the World Cup. I’m also an opener in the format. I would like to continue to open the batting in T20s,” Gill said.

However, having missed out on the T20 World Cup spot, with Jaiswal and Abhishek in the mix, Gill knows more than the runs it is the intent that would keep him in the frame. But for the time being, he can breathe easy as there is still plenty of time for culling as rotating players seem to be the focus point now. For the record, India have a whopping 30 T20Is and two IPLs to figure out the ideal resources before the next T20 World Cup in 2026.

Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Sikandar Raza (c), Johnathan Campbell, Antum Naqvi, Clive Madande (wk), Wessly Madhevere, Luke Jongwe, Faraz Akram, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani

Shubman Gill(c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel(w), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar

Apart from more tours and games, Zimbabwe Cricket is planning to build a national cricket academy, refurbish the domestic league and install indoor training facilities at all five domestic centres. Madande is optimistic that his country would rediscover his giant-scalping mojo, so that he and his teammates could inspire more youngsters to fall in love with the game, as he had a decade ago.

Contrastingly, the most experienced player in India’s in-transition squad is Washington Sundar with 43 caps. But Madande is realistic about his team’s prospects. “You look at all their experience in the IPL, and you realise they are a strong team though some of the World Cup winners are not here. Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Jitesh Sharma, they are my favourites in the league,” he says.

The 24-year-old knows that a clutch of impressive performances could elicit the attention of IPL scouts, and some of them could land up in the league, which has been an elusive shore for Zimbabwean cricketers. Only four Zimbabwean cricketers have ever appeared in the league, the last being Raza, who played just nine games across two seasons. “If more of us get to play cricket in franchises, the game would obviously draw more young talent to it, which would be good for the game overall in the country,” he says.

But busier days are knocking on their doors. Beginning with the India T20I series, they host all top nations, except Australia in the next cycle, and tour among other nations, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and England (for a four-day Test). “It’s a big motivation that we need to play our best and we need to play a bit harder and smarter. You get a lot of exposure and improvement. But like we showed in the series against Bangladesh, we have talent. We played good cricket there, just that we couldn’t get the results we wanted,” he explains.

In the series, Bangladesh won two T20I games by margins of nine and five runs; in the tour to Sri Lanka, the hosts eked out a last-ball thriller to win the opening game. Led by the seasoned Sikander Raza, Zimbabwe’s evergreen hero who ditched his dream of becoming a pilot to play cricket. His is not an utterly raw team, with seven of them clocking at least half a century of T20Is for their country. Some of them are familiar names too — such as all-rounders Luke Jongwe.and Wessly Madhevere, fast bowlers Tendai Chatara and Blessing Muzarbani. “Moreover, we would be playing in our backyard, there will be a lot of people cheering for us. It’s still the most popular sport in the country, and a lot of youngsters and schoolboys play this game,” he says.

Amidst the chaos, they somehow spun an odd upset or two, like beating Australia in an ODI in Townsville, in Queensland, or upending Pakistan in the 2022 edition of the World Cup. But the golden generation of the Flower brothers, Neil Johnson, Murray Goodwin and Heath Streak has become a distant memory. Many left the country, Streak passed away last year, but some, like the first Test captain Dave Houghton, have stayed back to help the new generation come through. “Guys like Houghton, Tatenda Taibu, I speak to them regularly, for advice, motivation and tips. Whenever I feel like struggling I go back to them,” he says.

Houghton’s men nearly pulled an upset over India in their inaugural Test, after his men had beaten England in a 1992 World Cup game. But from lively giant-killers they became forgotten minnows, hitting the headlines only for wrong reasons. Suspension of the board, or a former player hiding a bookie’s approach. Matches, inevitably, dried up. In the last six years, they played only 10 Tests and are not part of the World Test Championship cycle; the last time they played a top-10 ODI nation was in 2022, the subsequent years spent labouring in the World Cup qualifiers. They couldn’t qualify for the T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies, the only full member who was not part of the series.