Internet Desk: India just managed to avoid the embarrassment of a T20I series loss against Zimbabwe. MS Dhoni and his men successfully defended their lowest total in T20I’s to win the 3 match series 2-1. Put in to bat India could manage to score only 138/6 in 20 overs. In reply Zimbabwe fell tantalizingly short of the target by 3 runs.
Kedar Jadhav was declared the Man of the Match for his match winning knock of 58 runs, while Barinder Sran was nominated as the Man of the Series for his haul of 6 wickets in the series.
Requiring 21 runs of the last over, T Maruma and Chigumbura scored 18 runs of Barinder Sran. Maruma who remained not out on 23 off 13 balls, scored a six of the first ball of the last over. He then hit a four of the third ball bowled by Sran which was also a no ball. Requiring 8 off the last two balls, Chigumbura got a boundary off the fifth ball. But trying to hit a four of the last ball, Chigumbura was caught at covers by Chahal which denied the hosts a series win.
None of the Zimbabwe batsmen got going apart from Vusi Sibanda , who scored 28 runs of 23 balls.
Earlier, Kedar Jadhav scored his maiden T20I half century to help India recover from trouble. Jadhav smashed 58 off 42 balls to take the total to some respectability.
Batting first, Indian batsmen were in trouble right from the start on a wicket where scoring freely proved difficult. Young Indian batsmen squandered the golden opportunity to make an impact in the series decider.
Both openers Lokesh Rahul and Mandeep Singh failed to give India a solid start. Rahul, who looked tentative at the start, hit Chatara for a six and couple of fours in the second over. Mandeep, who scored 31 and 52 not out in the last two games, was the first one to go back. He tried to cut a short ball over cover but mistimed it to be caught just outside the circle. Rahul too was out to a lose stroke as he tried to whack Neville Madziva over mid-wicket, only to play on to his stumps.
India invited more trouble as Manish Pandey ran himself out following abrilliant effort on the field by Elton Chigumbura. India were in a spot with 29/3 after the power play overs.
Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu (20) tried to stitch a partnership as they built a 49 run stand off as many balls.
Barring Jadhav, the other Indian batsmen could not find the big hits that were needed in the middle overs.
The biggest disappointment of this series was the form of MS Dhoni. Dhoni, who failed to get his team over the line in opening T20, was bowled by Donald Tiripano after making 9 off 14 balls.
Jadhav held his end to reach his maiden half century with seven fours and a six.
Although he did not get runs with the bat, the Indian captain added another feather to his cap as he equaled Ricky Ponting’s record of captaining in most numbers of matches in international cricket. Dhoni now has led the country in 324 international matches since his appointment as the captain in 2007. He has led India in 60 Tests, 194 ODIs and 70 T20 Internationals.