India national cricket team captain Shreyas Iyer started his team’s performance in the first T20I of the three-match series against the Zimbabwe national cricket team on Thursday, July 23. India defeated Zimbabwe by 7 wickets to win the first game and lead the series 1–0.
Speaking after the win, Shreyas Iyer was happy with the team’s performance and said that the bowling attack executed their plans very well in the first game at the Harare Sports Club in Harare. He praised Mayank Yadav’s bowling performance as he gave India a good start with the new ball.
India’s bowlers shine in the first T20
India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl first, as the Men in Blue came in with an inexperienced bowling attack, with Ashok Sharma making his T20I debut, and Mayank Yadav returning to the side after two years. Milton Shumba was dropped for Zimbabwe before the match.
Mayank Yadav, who returned to the team after two years after being asked to bat first, made a dream start and got out for a golden duck by taking the wicket of Brian Bennett on the very first ball. The hosts lost half their team for 64 runs as India’s inexperienced bowling attack dominated Zimbabwe’s batsmen.
Prince Yadav and Mayank Yadav were the best bowlers, ending their spells with 2/19 and 2/18 respectively from their four overs. Debutant Ashok Sharma failed to take a single wicket; Ravi Bishnoi and Shivam Dubey took one wicket each, helping Zimbabwe score 125/7 in 20 overs.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored a half century
Abhishek Sharma, set to chase, was out early for just one run, but Vaibhav Suryavanshi declared himself after failing in three matches as he scored a half-century in 18 balls and became the sixth fastest batsman for India to score a T20I half-century. He also became the youngest batsman to score a half-century in a T20I game, as he is aged 15 years and 118 days.
After scoring a half-century, Suryavanshi came back to the dressing room after hitting four fours and as many sixes on the very next ball. Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer then put on a 46-run partnership as Kishan was out on 35 off 24 balls; Iyer and Tilak Verma won the match with 40 balls to spare as the captain was not out on 28.
Shreyas Iyer happy after India’s victory
Shreyas Iyer said that Vaibhav was exceptional in the match as he had the idea of playing on this ground, and he is also happy with his first win as he broke the record for the joint longest streak of winning the toss, but could not win as captain in T20Is as he won his first match after 7 matches.
After the match, Iyer said, “Exceptional. He was tremendous in his performance. Couldn’t be happier to get his first win. I was expecting bounce and there was ample bounce. Mayank gave an exceptional start. Didn’t give him a chance.”
“Vaibhav came in and gave us an extraordinary start with the bat. He analyzed the pitch and started building partnerships and that’s when I wanted to rotate my bowlers as well. He is fearless, the way he takes the innings forward is amazing. He has tremendous confidence when he walks out on the field.”
Longest streak of winning the toss but not winning as captain in T20I
7 – Prakash Mishra (Bulgaria, 2021)
7 – Shreyas Iyer (IND, 2026) – The series ended today
6 – Hernan Fennel (Argentina, 2021-2023)
Longest winless sequence for India in T20Is
7 – June 2026 – July 2026 (6 losses, 1 NR) – Series ends today
4 – June 2009 – December 2009 (4 losses)
4 – July 2021 – October 2021 (4 losses)
