Zimbabwe beat India by 10 runs for 1-1 draw in T20 series
HARARE: Zimbabwe beat India by 10 runs on Sunday to draw the T20 series 1-1 and prevent a clean sweep of their limited-overs tour by a young Indian side.
India, who won all three ODIs and the first T20, couldn’t chase down Zimbabwe’s relatively modest 145-7 in the final match of the tour at Harare Sports Club.
The under-strength India team, which toured without a string of top stars including MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, finished on 135-9. Robin Uthappa top scored with 42.
Legspinner Graeme Cremer took 3-18 for Zimbabwe, the best bowling performance of the game.
Earlier, opening batsman Chamu Chibhabha maintained his run of form with 67 from 51 balls with nine fours to hold together Zimbabwe’s innings.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma had two wickets each for India and Zimbabwe didn’t offer much else apart from Chibhabha’s half-century, which was ultimately enough. Fellow opener Hamilton Masakadza made 19 and only one other Zimbabwean, Sean Williams, reached double figures.
India’s batsmen struggled even more on the low, slow pitch to lose their first game in five in Zimbabwe.
In the end, the Indians needed 19 off the last over before Bhuvneshwar was run out with three balls left.