3rd T20I: Dominant India thrash Zimbabwe to complete clean sweep
What's the story
India's women's cricket team has completed a clean sweep over Zimbabwe in the three-match T20I series. The final match, played in Raipur on Tuesday, saw former captain Harmanpreet Kaur score an unbeaten 91 off just 41 balls. Shafali Verma also contributed significantly with a quickfire 69 off 37 balls. Their stellar performances helped India post a massive total of 216/7 in their allotted overs. Zimbabwe were restricted to just 124/7 in response.
Strategic shift
Mandhana, Shafali punish Zimbabwe after Anushka's brisk start
In a strategic shift, Smriti Mandhana, who won the toss and opted to bat first, pushed Anushka Sharma to open with Shafali.
The move paid off as the duo added 54 runs for the first wicket in just 32 balls.
Anushka scored a quick 28 off 20 balls before getting out to Nomvelo Sibanda.
Shafali then took over and continued her explosive form from previous matches.
Match highlights
Harmanpreet returns to form with a fiery knock
Harmanpreet, who had struggled for runs in recent matches, returned to her destructive best.
She smashed 10 fours and five sixes, striking the ball cleanly and repeatedly finding the boundary as India's innings gathered momentum.
Despite losing four wickets in the last five overs, India managed to score a whopping 62 runs.
This aggressive batting display left Zimbabwe with a daunting target of 217 runs to chase down.
Chase challenges
Zimbabwe falter in run chase
Zimbabwe needed a near-perfect chase to threaten India's imposing target, but the required scoring rate proved too steep.
Sharne Mayers offered resistance with 60 off 49 balls, hitting four boundaries and as many sixes, but she received insufficient support to turn the contest into a serious challenge.
Beloved Biza (44 off 50) was the only other Zimbabwe batter to enter double digits. The duo added 82 runs for the third wicket.
Shafali
Shafali nears 1,000 WT20I runs in 2026
Shafali smashed five sixes and six fours for her 69 off just 37 balls.
The dasher has been in phenomenal form this year, scoring a total of 991 runs in 27 WT20Is at an average of 39.64, as per Cricinfo.
No other batter has even scored 850 runs in a year.
Overall, the batter has raced to 3,453 runs from 122 WT20Is at an average of 30.55 (SR: 142.56).
This includes 24 scores of 50 or more (100: 1).
Harmanpreet
Harmanpreet slams her second-best score in WT20Is
Harmanpreet hit 10 fours and five sixes en route to her 41-ball 91*- her second-best score in WT20Is.
The veteran batter, who recently stepped down as India's all-format skipper, has now raced to 4,438 runs across 213 games at 30.60.
Her tally includes a hundred, 18 half-centuries, and a strike rate of over 110.
1,339 of her runs have come in 60 home matches at 32.65 (50s: 5).
Information
Three wickets for Nandani
Nandani Sharma was the pick of the Indian bowlers, claiming three wickets for 18 runs in her four overs. This spell took her WT20I tally to 23 wickets from 17 games at 14.69 (ER: 6.47). Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Deepti Sharma, and Niki Prasad took one wicket each.