HARARE, Zimbabwe — India’s men’s cricket team completed a dominant 3-0 clean sweep of their three-match Twenty20 international series against Zimbabwe on Sunday, with 15-year-old batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi turning in a star performance to claim Player of the Series honors.
Having already secured the series with a 90-run win on Saturday and taken the opening match by seven wickets on Thursday, India entered the final fixture looking to cap off their tour with a perfect result. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first on a slow pitch, India got off to a shaky start when opener Abhishek Sharma fell for just two runs to Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani in the early overs.
Sooryavanshi, who had already blasted a blistering 50 off 18 balls in the first match, joined forces with Ishan Kishan to rebuild the innings. The pair put on a 75-run partnership from 50 deliveries, powering India to 64-1 by the end of the mandatory powerplay. Kishan eventually departed for 29, but Sooryavanshi continued to tear through the Zimbabwe bowling attack. He brought up his second international half-century off 31 balls, and added two more sixes after passing the 50-run mark, on track to score his first senior international century. He was eventually caught out off Wessly Madhevere’s bowling, finishing with an impressive 81 runs from 49 deliveries, decorated by eight fours and four sixes across the ground.
Late contributions from Shreyas Iyer (27) and Rinku Singh, who added a quickfire 25 off 14 balls including two fours and a six, pushed India’s final total to 192-5 from 20 overs.
In Zimbabwe’s batting reply, fast bowler Mayank Yadav got India off to a dream start, dismissing opening batter Brian Bennett on the very first ball of the innings. Ben Curran (20) and Dion Myers (19) put on a 34-run second wicket stand to steady the innings, but Zimbabwe quickly lost multiple key wickets, including captain Sikandar Raza, who fell for a golden duck after a brilliant one-handed catch from Yash Thakur. Thakur ended the innings with figures of 2-45.
All-rounder Ryan Burl held the Zimbabwe batting order together, scoring an unbeaten 54 from 43 balls, including five fours. He shared a 60-run fifth-wicket partnership with Madhevere (28), but even his best effort could not close the gap on India’s total. Zimbabwe finished their 20 overs on 157-7, handing India a 35-run victory in the final match. Yadav ended with outstanding figures of 3 wickets for 29 runs from his four overs. Despite India dropping five catches throughout the Zimbabwe innings, the home side was outperformed in both batting and bowling departments across the entire match.
Sooryavanshi capped off his series-leading performance by being named Player of the Series, finishing with a total of 151 runs across three innings. Speaking after the match, the young batter said he was just replicating the form he shows in domestic training. “I had good preparation time after the England tour and I am glad to score these runs for the team, and contribute to the series win,” he added.
The series in Zimbabwe marked a comeback for Sooryavanshi, who recently replaced cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar as the youngest player to ever represent India at senior international level. However, his previous series against England yielded only modest results: he scored 14, 13 and 15 runs across three innings, and was dropped for the final match as India suffered a 4-0 series whitewash. Indian selectors gambled on the teenager giving him another opportunity on the same Harare ground where he scored a record-breaking 175 off 80 balls against England in the Under-19 World Cup final back in February, a call that paid off handsomely.