Zimbabwe vs. India, 1st Twenty20 International: Highlights, Scorecard, Recap

India comfortably beat Zimbabwe by 54 runs in the first of two Twenty20 internationals in Harare, Zimbabwe.

India, who won the toss and elected to bat, made 178 for five in their 20 overs at the Harare Sports Club.

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Rahane	c H Masakadza	b Cremer	33	43	32	2	0
Vijay	run out (Raza)		34	33	19	5	1
Uthappa	not out		39	56	35	2	0
Pandey	c Raza	b Mpofu	19	22	19	1	1
Jadhav	c H Masakadza	b Mpofu	9	9	7	1	0
Binny	c Cremer	b Mpofu	11	7	6	0	1
Harbhajan Singh	not out		8	3	3	1	0
Extras		1nb 13w 8b 3lb	25
Bowler			Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Utseya			4	0	30	0
Mpofu			4	0	33	3
Muzarabani			3	0	36	0
Madziva			4	0	46	0
Cremer			4	1	20	1
Raza			1	0	2	0

The hosts could only make 124 for seven in their reply as Ajinkya Rahane's side followed up their 3-0 whitewash in the one-day international series with another victory.

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
H Masakadza	c Jadhav	b A Patel	28	38	24	1	2
Chibhabha	c Pandey	b Harbhajan Singh	23	33	27	2	1
Coventry	c Rahane	b Harbhajan Singh	10	9	10	0	1
Chigumbura		b A Patel	1		3	0	0
Raza		b A Patel	10	25	17	0	0
C Ervine	run out (M Sharma)		2	9	8	0	0
Cremer		b M Sharma	9	16	14	0	0
Utseya	not out		13	18	7	1	1
Madziva	not out		14	8	10	1	1
Extras		0nb 8w 0b 6lb	14
Bowler			Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
B Kumar			4	0	22	0
Sharma			3	0	34	0
M Sharma			3	0	8	1
A Patel			4	0	17	3
Harbhajan Singh			4	0	29	2
Binny			2	0	8	0

India were playing their first T20I since September and got contributions from their top three.

"

India have five T20I debutants: Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Axar Patel, Stuart Binny and Sandeep Sharma http://t.co/RPo2AZPFIy #ZIMvIND

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 17, 2015"

Rahane and Murali Vijay set a solid foundation with a 64-run opening partnership in seven overs before the latter was run out for 34.

Rahane made 33 off 32 balls before departing in the 10th over, and Robin Uthappa anchored the innings with an unbeaten 39 from 35 deliveries.

Chris Mpofu was the pick of the bowlers with three for 33 from four overs, and the Zimmies started well in their reply with Hamilton Masakadza and Chamu Chibhabha putting on 55 in eight overs.

"

Zimbabwe's openers have made a steady start in their chase of 179, 38 for 0 in the Powerplay http://t.co/RPo2AZPFIy #ZIMvIND

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 17, 2015"

Sandeep Sharma, the young Punjab pace bowler who was making his international debut, went for 22 in his first two overs, but Rahane turned to his spinners to put a stranglehold on the match on a slow pitch.

The openers, Elton Chigumbura and Charles Coventry, departed in the space of 17 balls as spinners Harbhajan Singh and Axar Patel picked up two wickets apiece.

"

Only once before Zimbabwe has made a bigger total than 178 while batting 2nd vs SAf 186/7 at Kimberley 2010 (lost by 8 runs!) #ZimvInd

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) July 17, 2015"

Zimbabwe are only ranked 14th in the ICC T20 rankings, and they continued to fall further behind the required run rate. Patel finished with three for 17 as the chase tamely petered out.

India beat Zimbabwe 2-0 in a T20I series in Harare in 2010 and will repeat that feat if they win Sunday’s series finale on the same ground.