Vaibhav Sooryavanshi shines as India return to 3-0 win over Zimbabwe after setbacks in England and Ireland

India completed a 3-0 series sweep over Zimbabwe with a 35-run win in the third and final T20I in Harare on Sunday thanks to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s 81 and a disciplined bowling effort led by Mayank Yadav.The series win also marked a turnaround for India after losing their previous two T20I series against England (0-4) and Ireland (0-2).India defended 193 on a slow pitch and restricted Zimbabwe to 157/7 despite an unbeaten 54 from Ryan Burl.Zimbabwe once again lost the early wickets and failed to make good use of the power play. Yash Thakur (2/45) removed Dion Myers and skipper Sikandar Raza off successive deliveries in the fourth over to reduce the hosts to 34/3.

CJP Jantar Mantar protest update

Earlier, Mayank Yadav (3/29) got India off to the perfect start when he dismissed Brian Bennett with the first ball of the innings. Bowling with pace and accuracy, Mayank kept Zimbabwe under pressure throughout.India also dropped four catches and missed a few boundaries in another sub-par display.Burl tried to revive the chase with a 60-run fifth-wicket partnership with Wesley Madhever (28), but Zimbabwe had already lost too many wickets to stay in the contest.Earlier too, India suffered an early setback after opting to bat, losing Abhishek Sharma for 2. The left-hander bowled Blessing Muzarabani with wicketkeeper Tadi Marumani extending his poor run in T20Is. Abhishek’s last six scores now read: 10, 16, 3, 1, 8 and 2, dating back to the third T20I against England in Nottingham last month.However, Sooryavanshi adapted well to the conditions. The 15-year-old walked carefully across the slow surface of the Harare Sports Club. He scored just 11 runs from his first 10 balls and added another 15 in the next 10 deliveries before bringing up his second T20I fifty in 31 balls.The Bihar batter still produced some eye-catching shots. He drove Brad Evans over a straight boundary off a yorker and later hit Sikandar Raza for a 102-metre six. He also played against Wesley Madhever against Wesley Madhever. Overall, it was a controlled innings from the teenager.Sooryavanshi added 75 runs for the second wicket with Ishan Kishan (29) before sharing another 50 with skipper Shreyas Iyer (27).He missed out on a century when Brad Evans took a catch off the length bowling of Madhevere.After the dismissal of Sooryavanshi and Shreyas, India’s middle order failed to score quickly. The team managed just 47 runs in the last five overs, with Rinku Singh’s 25 off 14 balls helping India finish close to the 200-run mark.