India won by 42 runs
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Shivam Dube
Batter
Bowler
Gill collects the trophy and joins his team-mates. They scream in joy as they pose with the CHAMPIONS hoarding. India 4 -- 1 Zimbabwe. After a below-par batting performance in the opening T20I, this young team bounced back in style to win four on the bounce. The inexperienced Zimbabweans made a lot of fielding errors and their batsmen failed to put the Indian bowlers under pressure. Curtains down on this five-match T20 series. India's next assignment is against Sri Lanka away from home for three T20Is followed by three ODIs. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, will be touring Ireland for a one-off Test match in Belfast. Until next time, it's goodbye from all of us down here...
Shubman Gill: Excellent series. The hunger that we showed after the first loss was phenomenal to watch. Lot of the players had long flights, they weren't used to the conditions. The way they adapted was remarkable. I have been there (Sri Lanka) once for Asia Cup, looking forward to go there and performing.
Sikandar Raza: I thought Blessing bowled well the whole series. Batting-wise, we are still below-par, but we are starting to rectify the problems at the top. You are going to have bad games here and there. The grey area for me will remain our attitude in the field, we are still making a lot of mistakes, that's controllable, we are going to keep working hard and hopefully keep getting better. It was unfortunate that Richie (Ngarava) wasn't fit at the start of the series. Had he been declared fit, he was gonna play all the games. To have him fit is certainly a blessing because we all know his quality. To have Richie and Blessing ... every time I was in trouble I looked up to them and they did the job for the team, really happy for those two boys. My workload needs to be managed. I haven't played any four-day cricket in the last two years post my surgeries. My shoulder isn't 100%, I don't want to be a guy who just gets a jersey. I need to go back, respect my domestic cricket and also respect my domestic cricketers who have put a lot of runs. I will go back to play domestic cricket and test my own fitness. I am still available for Test match cricket but at this point of time, I am not because I haven't played a lot of four-day cricket. I'll leave for Manchester for The Hundred in a few days time, I am looking forward to that.
Washington Sundar | Player of the Series: Good to have finished with a win. After the first game, the conditions were similar to South Africa getting that extra bounce and extra pace. We had enough time to get a lot of information. Lot of takeaways and learnings, I bowled a lot in this series. We had a lot of success as a team.
Shivam Dube | Player of the Match: It's always a special thing to contribute in both departments. Took some wickets, very happy. In T20s, you can struggle but one shot and you can get back. The ground is big, we enjoy playing here, the atmosphere and the people are amazing.
Stat: India quicks with most wickets in a T20I bilateral series
8 - Deepak Chahar vs Bangladesh, 2019 (Home)
8 - Shardul Thakur vs New Zealand, 2020 (Away)
8 - Shardul Thakur vs England, 2021 (Home)
8 - Mukesh Kumar vs Zimbabwe, 2024 (Away)
Sikandar Raza and Ngarava receive special caps for making it to the ICC Men's T20I team of the year.
Abhishek Sharma: Last few games it was pretty good for bowling and as Riyan said after the 1st game we all woke up. Positive was the next match was next day so we did not think have time to think too much. We were talking about this in the IPL, if we get our caps it will be a dream come true. We never thought we will debut together. We spoke about it long back and it happened. Special mention to Shubman and coaches for trusting in my bowling after the first two games, I did not bowl well also, I'm working hard on my bowling and it's good to have the backing from the management. We all saw and it is always special when you play Pakistan and even more so when it's a final, congrats to my mentor [Yuvraj Singh].
Riyan Parag: Feels great. After the 1st game everyone woke up and we were clinical after that. Really proud of the boys and enjoyed it to the max. [on Abhishek Sharma] We opened our jerseys together. I went to his room, he opened it first and then I did. We played the 2018 World Cup together and next 6 years we did not play, now we are playing. Doing it with him was pretty special. I had a chat with Sanju bhayya and spoke that now we had to build a RR [Rajasthan Royals] partnership. Once we had wickets in the end, we could go like hell and it was a tricky wicket, glad we could do well. [on playing under Gill] It has been fun, we have played age group together, under-16. He has been like a captain even when he was not captain. In the field he has been exceptional.
16:20 Local Time, 14:20 GMT, 19:50 IST: Another convincing win for the visitors. After losing their top three inside the powerplay, they managed to post 167 on the board, thanks to Samson's half-century and cameos from Dube and Rinku. In reply, Zimbabwe lost two quick wickets as Mukesh Kumar struck twice in two overs with the new ball. He cleaned up Myers as well in his 3rd over but that turned out to be a front foot no-ball. Myers and Marumani took the attack to Bishnoi but the left-handed openers was trapped lbw by Washington Sundar. Even though the asking rate was increasing, Zimbabwe were in the hunt at the halfway stage. But the hosts lost a flurry of wickets as they slipped from 85/3 to 94/7 which also included Raza's run-out. Faraz Akram played a little gem but his 13-ball 27 only helped in Zimbabwe reducing their margin of defeat. Stick around for the presentations..
Mukesh Kumar to Ngarava, out Bowled!! Middle-stump uprooted and India win! Ngarava moves leg-side to swing across the line, gets beaten on the inside edge and hears the death rattle. Ngarava b Mukesh Kumar 0(1)
Mukesh Kumar to Ngarava, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!
Mukesh Kumar to Ngarava, wide, bouncer, Ngarava misses the pull and that's been wided for height
Mukesh Kumar to Ngarava, wide, back of a length down leg, Ngarava misses the pull
Richard Ngarava, left handed bat, comes to the crease
Mukesh Kumar to Faraz Akram, out Caught by Samson!! Full and wide of off from over the wicket, Faraz Akram reaches out for a drive and gets an outside edge. Samson dives to his left to complete a very good catch. End of an entertaining knock from Faraz Akram. Faraz Akram c Samson b Mukesh Kumar 27(13) [4s-2 6s-2]
Mukesh Kumar to Faraz Akram, THATS OUT!! Caught!!
Mukesh Kumar to Muzarabani, 1 run, yorker length, Muzarabani drives towards mid-on
Mukesh Kumar to Faraz Akram, no ball, 1 run, 137kph, full ball from round the wicket, Akram swings across the line and inside-edges to fine leg
Mukesh Kumar [3.0-0-17-2] is back into the attack