Barinder Sran holds nerves as India clinch T20I series

It was also an important moment as far as the Indian team was concerned too. If Barinder Sran had conceded a boundary to Chigumbura as he had off the penultimate delivery, it would have ended their 11-day one-city tour to Zimbabwe on an embarrassing note, and a bitter taste in the mouth.

It would have also meant that the IPL bashers, of which there isn’t a dearth, would have had a field day. How could a bunch of highly-paid, even if inexperienced, bunch of IPL superstars led by arguably the most-celebrated cricketer in the world go down to a beleaguered and underpaid team riddled with crisis? Especially since they had already fallen short in run-chase, which their vaunted batting line-up shouldn’t have had a problem with conquering in the first T20. Going into the final over, Sran had been left with 21 to defend, which at that point seemed like a formality.

The over though had begun on a horrific note for the young left-arm pacer. Maruma had smashed the first delivery a long distance over the wide long-on fence. And just like Ben Stokes had on that famous night at the Eden Gardens a few months back—when Carlos Brathwaite stunned the world—Sran stood at the centre of the pitch in shock and awe. The next ball was an extremely wide delivery outside off that didn’t even land within the confines of the pitch as he tried to compensate. It only got worse, as he dished up a chest-high full-toss that Maruma slammed over the cover fielder for four. All of a sudden, Zimbabwe only needed nine, and they had five deliveries to get them in with a free-hit on offer.

Luckily for India, Sran chose to come off age when it mattered most. The next three deliveries were the most accurate wide yorkers his captain could have asked for. And even though the fifth one went for four off the outside-edge of Chigumbura’s bat, Dhoni—who had to call for eye drops repeatedly towards the end of the innings after having been struck in his right-eye by the bail after getting bowled—applauded his bowler’s effort in sticking with the plan. That is before Sran provided some great relief for the Indians and despair for the hosts by delivering a low full-toss that Chigumbura could only hit as far as Yuzvendra Chahal at cover to ensure that India had done what was expected of them, leaving the African shores with series wins in both limited-over formats.

Low scoring thriller

A low-scoring thriller is not what T20 is designed for usually. But on Wednesday, the pitch at the Harare Sports Club was one that encouraged it. It was two-paced, with inconsistent bounce, and bowler-friendly enough for the Zimbabweans to put the Indians into bat. For starters, both teams started their respective innings with maiden overs.

The Zimbabwe new-ball bowlers to their credit, made the most of the conditions. Makhaya Ntini does most things differently to normal people. And almost expectedly, his way of disciplining his bowlers isn’t out of the more conservative coach’s manual either. He places raw eggs at good lengths, and his fast bowlers are expected to pitch the ball on them. If they don’t, he makes them eat the eggs, raw. On Wednesday, fortunately for Tendai Chatara & Co, they didn’t have to endure the traumatic experience. For, they had done their job.

If anything, it was the Indian batting line-up that they left walking on eggshells, reducing them to 27/3 within the first five overs. Then Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu came together. In the midst of 20-somethings, the Zimbabwe tour must have seemed like walking on eggshells for Jadhav and Rayudu, who are now both in their respective 30s. More so for Jadhav, who has now played 11 of his 12 international matches in Harare. But with his team in strife, the diminutive right-hander showed just why the selectors keep showing faith in him despite the number of young pretenders emerging around him, by playing an extremely important innings both for him and the team. On a pitch that troubled everyone else, he looked rather fluent, and it was his assault, 58 off 42, in the late overs—a powerfully struck six over long-on being the cynosure—that gave the visitors a competitive score. Axar Patel played his part too, scoring 20 brisk runs off 11 balls, and then bowled economically, choking the hosts at crucial junctures for his captain. For, Zimbabwe looked to be in front for most parts of their chase, needing just over 7-an-over at the halfway stage.

But Patel and the inspirational Jasprit Bumrah brought Chigumbura and Zimbabwe cricket face to face with their moment of truth.

Brief scores: India 138/6 in 20 overs (Kedar Jadhav 58, KL Rahul 22, Donald Tiripano 3/20) beat Zimbabwe 135/6 in 20 overs (Vusi Sibanda 28, Petewr Moor 26, Dhawal Kulkarni 2/23 Barinder Sran 2/31) by three runs.