After losing the first game of the T20 series by two runs against Zimbabwe, Team India stepped into the Harare Sports Club today looking to equalize things. Zimbabwe skipper after winning the toss elected to bat first as the pitch was dry and looked good for batting. The Indian team made two changes to their side as J. Unadkat and Rishi Dhawan were replaced by Dhawal Kulkarni and Barinder Sran.

Dhoni”s men stepped on the field with the same opening bowling pair that had rattled the Zimbabweans in the ODI Series. Barinder Sran started off with the new ball along with Dhawal Kulkarni. The Zimbabwe opening pair started steady until Sran picked up the wicket of Chamu Chibhabha in the 3rd over courtesy to a brilliant running catch by Ambati Rayudu. But the real carnage struck in the 5th over as Sran ran over the middle order picking up 3 wickets in 5 balls after which Zimbabwe just couldn’t recover. At the end of power-play, Zimbabwe were 35/4. The spinners started to strangle the batsmen with the field spread around. Jasprit Bumrah who is known for his death bowling ended up picking three wickets in his 4 overs giving away just 11 runs. MI’s speed gun already has 5 wickets to his name in the two T20 matches so far. A terrific bowling performance by India meant that Zimbabwe were restricted to 99/9 in their 20 overs.

Chasing a target of 100 on a pitch that was good for batting, Indian openers K.L Rahul and Mandeep Singh walked out to the center. The duo started rather cautiously but once they got accustomed to the pace and the bounce of the pitch, both the batsmen started to play some glorious shots. K.L Rahul played a flawless innings of 47* of 40 balls which included 2 fours and 2 sixes. Mandeep on the other hand was dropped twice while trying to execute the pull shot. The Punjab lad however went on to get his maiden half century in T20I’s scoring 52* of 40 balls smashing 6 fours and 1 six. The Indian openers took the attack to the Zimbabweans as they reached the target with 41 balls to spare.

An attacking bowling display by the Indians and an excellent 100 run partnership by the Indian openers helped them beat the hosts by 10 wickets.