Zimbabwe took a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series after beating India in the first T20I in Harare by 2 runs. After a humiliating 3-0 whitewash in the ODI series, the hosts bounced back brilliantly thanks to Elton Chigumbura and Neville Madziva.
After losing the toss and being sent in to bat, both of Zimbabwe’s openers got off to starts but failed to convert. They managed to score more than they did in all three ODIs thanks to a quick-fire fifty from Elton Chigumbura.
In reply, India lost the hero of the ODI series KL Rahul early but Mandeep Singh managed to steady the ship along with Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav. After he was dismissed, Manish Pandey took over but fell just short of his fifty. With 8 runs needed off the last over, Madziva bowled a brilliant last over to seal a famous victory.
Here are some interesting numbers from the first T20I:
0 – The number of times that India have lost a wicket off the first ball of their innings in a T20I before today. KL Rahul’s dismissal was the first time this occured although four times, India have lost a wicket off the second ball.
1 – This is the first time since the inaugural T20I that India have had two debutants share the new ball. Against Zimbabwe today, it was Jaidev Unadkat and Rishi Dhawan who had that honour.
2 – KL Rahul became only the second Indian batsman, after MS Dhoni to get out for a duck on his T20I debut. Unfortunately, he also became the first Indian to get out for a golden duck on T20I debut and only the fourth batsman to get out on the first ball of their team’s innings on T20I debut.
3 – Only three Indian bowlers have conceded more runs on their T20I debut than Jaydev Unadkat’s 43. Joginder Sharma has the unenviable record, having conceded 57 against England in 2007, while Ashish Nehra (52) and Sreenath Aravind (44) are the only others to have conceded more.
4 – Elton Chigumbura scored a fifty off just 25 balls, which was the fourth-fastest T20I fifty by a Zimbabwe batsman. The fastest was Waller’s 20-ball fifty against Bangladesh in 2015.
5 – Excluding the first T20I that India played, in which all 11 were debutants, this is the most debutants fielded by India in a T20I.
8 – This was just the eighth time that a team has lost when MS dhoni remained unbeaten in a chase. Of the eight, one was in an ODI, two were in the IPL and this was the fifth time that it happened in a T20I.
21 – Only Al-Amin Hossain has picked up more T20I wickets in 2016 than Jasprit Bumrah. With 21 wickets, he is joint-second with teammate Ravichandran Ashwin.
36 – Only two teams, South Africa (40 in 2012) and Sri Lanka (38 in 2009) have scored more runs in the last two overs in a T20I against India than Zimbabwe’s 36 today.
48 – Despite missing out on his maiden T20I fifty, Manish Pandey still recorded his career-best T20I score. His previous-best was 19 in his T20I debut against Zimbabwe last year.
50 – No bowler has taken more wickets in T20 matches this year than Jasprit Bumrah. He picked up his 50th T20 wicket of the year, against Zimbabwe and in the process also became the first Indian bowler to achieve that milestone.
61 – The number of dismissals MS Dhoni has in T20Is. He has now overtaken Kamran Akmal and has the most dismissals by any keeper in T20I history.
123 – India’s debutants (Unadkat, Dhawan and Chahal) conceded 123 runs, which is the most by debutants in the last decade and third-most overall, apart from the inaugural matches for the respective countries.
170 – This is now Zimbabwe’s highest total against India in T20Is. Their previous best was achieved last year when they scored 145/7 in Harare.
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