India 167 for 6 (Samson 58, Dube 26, Muzarabani 2-19) beat Zimbabwe 125 (Myers 34, Marumani 27, Akram 27, Mukesh 4-22, Dube 2-25) by 42 runs

Zimbabwe kept India to a par total of 167 despite a half-century from Sanju Samson, and they took the upper hand in the chase after a strong powerplay. However, Mukesh Kumar, Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube hit back with the ball to sniff out any chance of a Zimbabwe victory, and India sealed a 42-run win to complete a splendid series turnaround in Harare after losing the opening fixture of the series.

Sunday’s victory was India’s fourth win in a row, all completed in comfortable fashion.

Jaiswal, Abhishek, Gill fall inside powerplay

After Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza won the toss for the first time all series, he sent India in. Yashasvi Jaiswal began with two sixes off the first two balls of the match, including one off a Raza no-ball, but the opener could not maximise his start, and was bowled in the first over itself.

That brought in Abhishek Sharma, but his stay was brief too, Blessing Muzarabani getting him caught behind with a length ball angling across him. Shubman Gill followed Abhishek to the hut when a Richard Ngarava short ball got big on him, and he sliced a mis-hit to mid-on.

Samson lifts India’s innings

The three top-order wickets left India at 44 for 3 after the powerplay and forced a rebuild from No. 4 Samson – he was pushed up in Ruturaj Gaikwad’s absence – and No. 5 Riyan Parag, who was batting for the second time this series. They batted together for 56 balls, and even though they added only 65 for the fourth wicket, they ensured India arrested a potential collapse. Parag made a 24-ball 22 and was out to legspinner Brandon Mavuta when he tried to up the scoring rate.

Samson, though, made full use of the time he took to get going. At one stage he was on 17 off 18 balls, but when Mavuta bowled in his arc, he capitalised to up the scoring rate. Samson struck four sixes in all, and just the lone four, and when he fell in the deep in the 18th over trying to take Muzarabani on, he was out for a 45-ball 58.