Zimbabwe vs. India, 2nd T20I, 2015: Highlights, Scorecard, Recap

Zimbabwe (145/7) managed to beat India (135/9) by 10 runs on Sunday to win the final Twenty20 match of the series in Harare. It was the hosts' only win of the series. Chamu Chibhabha's knock of 67 and Graeme Cremer's excellent bowling ensured the win, giving the home fans something to celebrate after a disappointing series.

India had been in control of this series, winning all three ODIs and the first T20 match, and it became clear early during the first innings the Men in Blue intended to continue that streak. Chibhabha's 67 from 51 was sandwiched in between a number of quick wickets, taking away just about all the momentum the Zimbabwe batsmen could muster.

Hamilton Masakadza was caught after lasting just 17 deliveries, and Sikandar Raza managed only eight from seven before he too was caught. India's bowlers were putting in a fine shift, but Chibhabha's wicket remained an elusive one, giving the fans in Harare something to cheer about.

Cricbuzz liked the eventual target of 146 the hosts would have to defend:

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
H Masakadza	c Uthappa	b Sharma	19	21	17	1	1
Chibhabha		b B Kumar	67	86	51	9	0
Raza	c Samson	b M Sharma	8	9	7	1	0
Williams	c and b A Patel		17	20	18	1	0
Coventry	c Uthappa	b Binny	4	18	10	0	0
C Ervine		b B Kumar	7	16	9	1	0
Waller	not out		6	8	6	0	0
Utseya	c A Patel	b M Sharma	1	3	2	0	0
Cremer	not out		0		1	0	0
Extras	1nb 9w 5b 1lb		16
Total	for 7 (20.0 ovs)		145
B Kumar	4.0	0	26	2
Sharma	4.0	0	39	1
Binny	2.0	0	14	1
M Sharma	4.0	0	28	2
Vijay	2.0	0	9	0
A Patel	4.0	0	23	1

If the early wickets damaged Zimbabwe's momentum, the lower order ruined their chances of putting up a truly big score. After Sean Williams' 17 from 18, not a single batsman managed double figures, and only Charles Coventry faced 10 deliveries.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma led the Men in Blue with two wickets each, and not a single bowler finished with an economy rate over 9.75. Bhuvneshwar in particular looked excellent at the death, finding his yorkers with ease.

India had a nightmare start to their chase, however. Ajinkya Rahane, one of the stars of this year's Indian Premier League season, was run out after just three deliveries, a serious blow to their chances of success.

Fortunately for him, India's order is loaded with talent, and Robin Uthappa picked up the slack with a quick 42 from 25. Cricbuzz noted he found the boundary with ease:

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Rahane	run out (Chibhabha)		4	2	3	1	0
Vijay		b Cremer	13	26	11	0	1
Uthappa	c and b Williams		42	31	25	9	0
Pandey	lbw	b Cremer	0	2	3	0	0
Jadhav	run out (Muzarabani)		5	11	6	0	0
Binny	c Chibhabha	b Cremer	24	31	23	2	0
Samson	c Waller	b Mpofu	19	37	24	1	0
A Patel	c Williams	b Muzarabani	13	17	15	1	0
B Kumar	run out (Coventry)		9	12	6	0	0
M Sharma	not out		3	7	3	0	0
Sharma	not out		1		1	0	0
Extras	0nb 1w 1b 0lb		2
Total	for 9 (20.0 ovs)		135
Utseya	3.0	0	18	0
Muzarabani	3.0	0	23	1
Mpofu	3.0	0	26	1
Chibhabha	1.0	0	9	0
Williams	4.0	0	31	1
Cremer	4.0	0	18	3
Raza	2.0	0	9	0

Uthappa's start was impressive, but India failed to find a reliable partner early. Murali Vijay, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav all fell quicker than anticipated, before Stuart Binny finally put some runs on the board. 

The side had fallen behind the run rate at this point, and Binny had to take chances. He eventually fell to a phenomenal catch by Chibhabha for 24, which gave Cremer his third wicket of the afternoon.

Cricbuzz was impressed:

Cremer nearly made a spectacular catch of his own, but Axar Patel as lucky enough to see the ball drop harmlessly to the turf. It hardly mattered, however, as Zimbabwe were cruising to a win at this point. India needed 22 runs with one wicket and eight balls left, a nearly impossible task.

Chris Mpofu easily saw out the final over, preserving the win and sending the home fans into a frenzy. Per cricket statistician Mohandas Menon, the win was the hosts' first over India in over five years:

As reported by ESPN Cricinfo, man of the match Chibhabha was more happy with his excellent catch than his knock, saying: "I've put in a lot of work and its come off and I'm happy to contribute to a win. Bit slow, bit of bounce and had to work hard for your runs.

"To be fair, I was happy with the catch more than I was with the bat. We needed to get Binny out, hes been brilliant all series. So happy to take the blinder."

The win is a fantastic result for Zimbabwe, who managed to hold one of the world's most powerful batting lineups to just 135 without captain Elton Chigumbura, who missed the match due to injury. India struggled to accelerate at the end of the innings once again, although the Zimbabwe bowlers deserve a ton of credit for limiting the damage.

None of it would have been possible without Chibhabha's phenomenal catch, however, and without a doubt, the 28-year-old was Sunday's top performer. 

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