After India came back strongly in the second T20I, the third and final T20I was a final of sorts. India was put into bat by Zimbabwe captain, Graeme Cremer, and batted first for the first time in the series. With MS Dhoni stating that he would have opted to bat first, it seemed like India would come out with all guns blazing.
However, India had one of the worst starts they ever had in the powerplays of a T20I as they lost early wickets. Kedar Jadhav's maiden half-century helped India post a total that was of some respectability.
In reply, Zimbabwe started their innings well as Vusi Sibanda and Peter Moor played good knocks to set up a good chase. Indian bowlers brought the team back into the game, and despite some late hitting by Timycen Maruma, India managed to hold and win the match and thus, the series.
Here are the major stats from the game:
1 – This was the first match in this series (both ODI and T20I) that India batted first.
1 – This was the first time that India's first over in the batting innings of a T20I has been a maiden over.
1 – India lost three wickets in the powerplays in T20Is against Zimbabwe for the first time.
2 – This was only the second time that India won a bilateral T20I series after losing the first match of the series. The previous one was against Sri Lanka in 2016.
3 – The number of runs by which India won against Zimbabwe. This was the third closest win for India (by runs).
4 – This was only the fourth time that MS Dhoni was dismissed in 15 T20Is in 2016.
5 – MS Dhoni was not out in the five previous T20I innings before he was dismissed this match.
19 – This was India's 19th T20I in 2016. This is the highest for any team in a calendar year. The previous highest was 18, played by Pakistan in 2010.
20 – Ambati Rayudu's knock is his highest score in T20Is. His previous highest was 19.
29/3 – This is India's joint fourth-lowest total in powerplays in T20Is.
43 – India scored 43 runs in the last three overs. In the seven overs before that, they scored only 42 runs.
50 – Hamilton Masakadza became the first player to play 50 T20Is for Zimbabwe.
58 – Kedar Jadhav's maiden T20I fifty is the highest by an Indian batting at Number 5 or lower in T20Is. The highest is by Yuvraj Singh's 77* against Australia in 2013. This is also Jadhav's highest score in T20Is.
138 – This was the lowest total successfully defended by India in T20Is. The previous lowest they defended was 146 against Bangladesh in 2016.
324 – MS Dhoni reached the milestone of captaining India in 324 matches. This is the joint highest for any captain, along with Ricky Ponting.
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