India 102 (Gill 31, Chatara 3-16, Raza 3-25) lost to Zimbabwe 115 for 9 (Madande 29*, Bishnoi 4-13) by 13 runs.
India’s post-World Cup celebrations were put on hold after they suffered their first T20I loss in 2024 at the hands of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s bowlers came out firing after being limited to 115 for 9, taking wickets often to dismiss India for 102 in 19.5 overs. Naturally, this was India’s backup T20I lineup; the first-choice team is taking a break one week prior to the World Cup final in Bridgetown.
India quickly crumbled, much to the delight of the raucous Harare crowd—the Harare Sports Club was filled to capacity—thanks to the outstanding ball play of Tendai Chatara and Sikandar Raza, who each claimed three wickets.
India won the toss, elected to bowl first, and gave debuts to Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel. Zimbabwe got off to a strong start, but Washington Sundar (2 for 11) and Ravi Bishnoi (a T20 career best of 4 for 13) engineered a collapse. It looked like a straightforward enough chase at the midway point, but the Zimbabwe bowlers had other ideas.
India lost four wickets in five overs as Abhishek fell for a four-ball duck, Ruturaj Gaikwad for seven, Parag for three balls, and Rinku Singh for two. And all of Harare believed when Sikandar Raza cleared Shubman Gill for 31.
With one wicket remaining, India needed to score 16 runs in the last over in order to win while Washington was still in the game. To create riots in Harare, Chatara, on the other hand, bowled a composed 20th over, giving up just two runs off four deliveries and dismissing Washington off the fifth. This is the lowest total defended against anyone in Harare as well as the lowest total ever against India in a T20I. In any format, it was Zimbabwe’s first matchup with India since 2016.