ZIM vs IND 1st T20I: As Indian fans were still rejoicing the T20 World Cup win, the much-changed Indian Cricket Team was in action against Zimbabwe. All the pre-match shows around the first T20I match focused on how big the win margin would be for the Men in Blue. Once Shubman Gill won the toss and decided to bowl first, and with Mukesh Kumar picking up a wicket on his first ball, everything seemed to be going perfectly and as per script for the Indian team.
In fact, there were Indian fans on social media arguing that India should have batted first after Zimbabwe managed a meager 115/9 in 20 overs. At half time, the match seemed to be going only one way, and that was an easy win for Team India.
But matches are not played on paper. Problems started for the visitors as soon as the 2nd innings began. Abhishek Sharma couldn’t control his aggressive nature and played a lofty shot on the fourth ball of the first over, which went safely into the hands of Wellington Masakadza.
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India’s middle order crumbled
Ruturaj Gaikwad (7 off 9), Riyan Parag (2 off 3), and Rinku Singh (0 off 2) all departed within five overs, with India’s score reading 22/5. Dhruv Jurel and Shubman Gill tried rescuing India’s faltering innings, with the duo adding 21 runs for the 6th wicket.
But Jurel and Gill both departed within 3 runs of each other. India’s score at that time was 47/6 in 10.2 overs. The biggest partnership for Team India came from Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan, who added 33 runs for the 8th wicket. But once Avesh (16 off 12) got out, things went downhill for the T20 World Cup winners, who were bundled out for 102 runs in 19.5 overs.
The only positive for Team India after the 1st T20I match is that the 2nd game is less than 24 hours away, giving the team an immediate opportunity to avenge the defeat and level the 5-match series with a win.
