2016 Zimbabwe Vs India First T20 @ Harare Saturday June 18,2016

Despite winning the ODI series 3-0 - Team India are not getting over confident ahead of the T20I series which starts in Harare on Saturday June 18,2016

A day ahead of the first T20I between Zimbabwe and India - India's interim head coach Sanjay Bangar said that his side are anticipating the hosts to come out stronger in the upcoming three-match T20I series.
The preceding ODI series saw empty stands at the HSC over the course of the series in which Zimbabwe were bowled out for paltry scores of 168, 126 and 123.

The last time these two teams met in a T20I was at the same venue, 11 months ago - Zimbabwe  won by 10 Runs

Zimbabwe Batsmen Sean Williams and Craig Ervine are not part of Zimbabwe's 18-man squad for the three T20Is against India starting on June 18 in Harare, after suffering injuries during the ODI series.

Ervine injured his hamstring in the first ODI, while Williams, who replaced him for the second game, fractured his finger at training soon after the toss.

Zimbabwe's changes

In: Brian Chari, Donald Tiripano, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Timycen Maruma, Tapiwa Mufudza, Chamu Chibhabha

Out: Sean Williams, Tinashe Panyangara, Luke Jongwe, Tendai Chisoro

Zimbabwe T20 Squad
Graeme Cremer (capt), Sikandar Raza, Brian Chari, Tendai Chatara, Chamu Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Neville Madziva, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza, Wellington Masakadza, Peter Moor, Tapiwa Mufudza, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Richmond Mutumbami (wk), Taurai Muzarabani, Vusi Sibanda, Donald Tiripano, Malcolm Waller  

India squad for Zimbabwe Tour (ODIs/T20Is)
MS Dhoni (c), KL Rahul, Faiz Fazal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, Rishi Dhawan, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Jaidev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal 

Zimbabwe beat India by 2 Runs in last over thriller

 

India won the toss and chose to field

 

T20I debuts - Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishi Dhawan, Mandeep Singh, K L Rahul and Jaydev Unadkat (India)

 

Put into bat first Zimbabwe openers Hamilton Masakadza and Chamu Chibhabha gave the hosts a strong start before Elton Chigumbura’s unbeaten 26-ball 54 took Zimbabwe to 170 for 6 in 20 overs.

 

Chasing a fighting total, India lost KL Rahul on the first ball of the innings and were struggling against the Zimbabwe bowlers before Manish Pandey’s 48-run knock helped them get back on track.

With 79 required off 42 balls, Pandey hit two consecutive sixes off Cremer as 16 runs came off the 14th over.

India were looking on course but they lost Pandey at the wrong time and now they needed 28 off 16 balls.

 

It was an outstanding last over from Neville Madziva but India have only themselves to blame for a shocking two-run loss against Zimbabwe in the first Twenty20 of the three-match series in Harare on Saturday.

India needed eight runs to win from the last over and MS Dhoni was at the crease but Madziva held his nerves and bowled with brilliant accuracy to give the Graeme Cremer-led side a sensational win against a team who have been in outstanding form in the shortest format in 2016.

It is a historic win considering that Zimbabwe had failed to qualify for the Super 10 of World Twenty20 and had lost T20 series to Afghanistan earlier this year.

M S Dhoni took a single off the first ball of the last over to give Axar Patel - who was looking good with the bat - the strike but he was caught by Hamilton Masakadza on the very next ball.

M S Dhoni once again was at the batting end but a spot-on Madziva didn’t let him go for a big hit and he took another single to give newcomer Rishi Dhawan the strike. He already had a bad day with the ball giving away 42 runs in his four overs and now he was under pressure to score six runs off last three balls.

As Rishi Dhawan went right across his stumps, Madziva bowled a wide delivery outside the off stump and it was a dot ball. The next delivery was almost similar and Dhawan tried the same shot but it was given as a wide ball by the umpire.

Rishi Dhawan took a single off the next delivery, which meant that India needed a boundary off the last ball and ‘Captain Cool’ this time failed to score the winning runs and the ball outside the off stump was played to backward point for a single

 

 

Scorecard

Zimbabwe scored170/6 in 20 Overs

India scored 168/6 in 20 Overs

Match Result - Zimbabwe won by 2 Runs

MOM - Elton Chigumbura (Zimbabwe)for his 54*(41 and 6x7)