ZIM vs IND

India are back to winning ways, Shreayas Iyer seemed a relieved man and now they will look to turn this into a juggernaut and get the series in the bag in the process. Back-to-back games on the weekend, there will be a gap tomorrow but we will be back day after with the second game from the same venue. For now, this is Sourabh Agrawal signing off on behalf of Bidipto Datta and the rest of the team. Cheers!

Shreyas Iyer (India captain): Exceptional. They were tremendous in terms of execution. Me getting my first win, can't be happier. I anticipated the bounce, it was there but it was variable bounce off a hard length and it was there in both the innings. Exceptional start given by Mayank, did not give them room. Vaibhav came out and gave us an exceptional start with the bat. (were they disappointed to not bowl out Zimbabwe?) Every team there is going to be a batsman that is going to take the team to the hilt, they assessed the wicket well and started to build partnerships when I wanted to rotate my bowlers to see to it that they get used to the conditions as we are going to play two more matches here. (on Vaibhav Sooryavnashi) Exceptional, he is a young fearless batter and the way he approaches the innings is amazing. He has played here before, 175 in the U19 WC final and he knows the conditions. He possesses immense confidence and we saw that today

Mayank Yadav is the Player of the Match for his spell of 2/18, this is what he had to say: It always feels good when you contribute to win for your country. Back in the blues after a long time, very special moment for me. (bowling on this surface) The wicket was pretty good, I was enjoying a lot bowling here specially after India. I am playing here for the first time, really enjoyed it. The bounce I was getting, off the wicket it was seaming as well. It was of great help for me. I was just hitting the deck. (word on the other bowlers like Ashok and Prince) We got a good start, got a wicket off the very first ball and then they kept squeezing and got them out for 120

Sikanadar Raza (Zimbabwe captain): Again, not up to the standards (talking about their batting). In the morning, the moisture played its part but it was not that much, the movement off the deck made it tougher. We did not hit a lot of boundaries and hence the ball kept moving. In the Bangladesh series, there was a lot of moisture but today it was there for the first 8-10 overs and it became a solid wicket to bat on once India came in to bat. Hopefully we get better wickets in the next games, so if we lose the toss it does not make that much of a difference. Positives to take, new roles for Madhevere and Marumani. They did well

Time for a chat with Prince Yadav who got 2/19 with the ball (translated from Hindi): Pretty happy with my performance, more that that happy with the win for the team. At the start, there was help off the wicket and the ball was flying through off the hard length. We kept hitting the channel consistently and got the rewards. Everyone bowled well, Mayank, Ashok, all of them bowled well. Happy to get the win. The talk with the coaches and Shreyas was to bowl the right line and lengths, if we bowl there we will get the rewards

4:15 PM local time, 7:45 PM IST: MATCH SUMMARY

India (126/3 in 13.2 overs) beat Zimbabwe (125/7 in 20 overs) by 7 wickets

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 50(19) | Mayank Yadav 2/18(4)
Wessly Madhevere 39(34) | Blessing Muzarabani 2/26(4)

8 March 2026 was the last time when India won a T20I game, they had seven goes after that but could not get the result and now finally on the eighth attempt Shreyas Iyer's men have produced a performance which was expected from them all this while along. Zimbabwe stood no chance today, they have been outplayed in their own backyard and India have a 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20I series

India were the better side by a massive margin in all the three departments; with the ball, with the bat and on the field too. It started off with the toss, Iyer is yet to lose a toss as the Indian skipper and this time he will be happy that he has got the win as well

The first ball of the match brought a wicket for India, Mayank Yadav nicked off Bennett and it was reviewed successfully after the on-field umpire did not give it out. It just kept on going India's way, Mayank's blitz with the new ball was well accompanied by debutant Ashok Sharma and then Prince Yadav

Zimbabwe did well to recover from 64/5 to get to 125 with a 50-plus partnership between Madhevere and Marumani but the total was always going to be short against this Indian lineup.

Then it was the turn of the 15-year old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to take centerstage. He unleashed carnage in the powerplay despite Abhishek Sharma struggling, got to his maiden international fifty in just 18 balls and killed the game right there and then. Even though he got out straightaway after his fifty, the finishing line was within sight

Ishan Kishan scored a fluent 35, skipper Iyer stayed not out on 28 and Tilak Verma hit the winning runs to cap off a thumping victory for the world champions

13.2 Richard Ngarava to Tilak Varma, game, set and match! India win by 7 wickets and with 40 balls to spare. First win as the India captain for Shreyas Iyer, took 8 matches for it but it is finally here and this Indian T20 side is back to winning ways with a decimating display in Harare. Pretty anticlimatic end to the contest, a full one at the pads, clipped away through square leg by Tilak to get the winning run 

13.1 Richard Ngarava to Shreyas Iyer, around the wicket, angling back in on a length, Iyer looks to cut it away but gets a touch cramped up and chips it into the point region for one

12.6 Sikandar Raza to Shreyas Iyer, hangs back and cuts to deep point this time for a single only. Still 3 needed, we will go into another over

12.5 Sikandar Raza to Shreyas Iyer, looks to run that away fine on the off side from the backfoot, slices it but can't get it past short third

12.3 Sikandar Raza to Shreyas Iyer, shortish again, at the stumps, looks like that it did not come off the pitch as Iyer expected again and he had to readjust to pull that away to deep mid-wicket for one

12.1 Sikandar Raza to Shreyas Iyer, slightly short, at the stumps, mistimes the pull in between deep mid-wicket and long-on for a couple of runs.