Smriti Mandhana’s Indian captaincy era begins with a clean sweep of Zimbabwe
The Indian women’s cricket team swatted away Zimbabwe, bagging a clean sweep in Raipur. Smriti Mandhana’s captaincy reign kicked off with a bang as the Women in Blue were ruthless and relentless in their pursuit of glory and eventually dished out an all-round performance to walk out with the bragging rights.
Winning the toss, India opted to bat first. In a surprise change to the batting line-up, Smriti Mandhana held herself back while it was Shafali Verma and Anushka Sharma who opened the innings. The momentum, however, had no change as the two fired on all cylinders.
Sharma scored 28 off 20 as she combined with Verma to add 54 runs for the opening stand. After a fine start, Sharma fell to Nomvelo Sibanda. Nyasha Gwanzura was the second to make a breakthrough when she claimed Niki Prasad (9), dealing another blow to the Indian aspirations in quick succession.
However, an incoming Harmanpreet Kaur unleashed her scary best as India started motoring along. The duo of Kaur and Verma went on a full-blown rampage. Verma smashed 69 off 37, rocking six fours and five sixes. The two added 84 runs for the third wicket before Beloved Biza could put an end to the former’s knock.
From there, it was a Harmanpreet Kaur show who stayed unbeaten for 91 from just 41 balls, rocking 10 fours and five sixes. Kaur’s tempestuous knock propelled India to 216/7 at the end of their 20 overs. Beloved Biza went for 50 runs from her quota of four overs but she claimed three wickets, to lead the Zimbabwean line.
India got off to a roaring start as Kranti Gaud bagged the crucial scalp of Kelis Ndhlovu (0) on the very first ball of the innings. Even before Zimbabwe could rally themselves from the early blow, Nandani Sharma doubled down on the Indian charge, removing Modester Mupachikwa (1) in quick succession.
Sharne Mayers (60) and Beloved Biza (44) came together in getting the first building blocks in play. The two added 82 runs for the third wicket but the scoring rate remained a major concern for the visitors. Niki Prasad broke the stand by dismissing Mayers while Arundhati Reddy struck shortly to get the better of Nyasha Gwanzura (2) as the pressure on the visitors simply kept on piling up.
India eventually restricted Zimbabwe to 124/7 at the end of 20 overs, securing a monumental win by 92 runs. Nandani Sharma claimed two wickets in the final over to conclude her spell as the leader of the Indian pack with figures of 3/18. Kaur bagged the Player of the Match award for her sensational innings in the final clash while Shafali Verma won the Player of the Series award for her tally of 128 runs.
