Kishan’s 81 sets up a 90-run win as India seal the Zimbabwe T20I series
India recovered from 29 for 2 to post 219 for 5 in Harare, then bowled Zimbabwe out for 129 to take an unassailable 2-0 lead with a match to spare.
Jul 25, 2026
India took an unbeatable lead in their T20I series in Zimbabwe on Saturday, winning the second match at Harare Sports Club by 90 runs. Ishan Kishan’s 81 hauled the innings out of an early hole, and once Zimbabwe lost their way in the chase, Abhishek Sharma’s three wickets turned a contest into a rout.
Kishan and Tilak turn 29 for 2 into 219
Zimbabwe won the toss and put India in, and for a while the decision looked inspired. India were 29 for 2 inside the powerplay, with both openers back in the hut and the innings needing someone to settle it down.
Kishan took that job. He batted through the middle overs with Shreyas Iyer for a stand of 66, then found a partner willing to go harder in Tilak Varma. Their fourth-wicket partnership produced 94 and decided the match. Kishan made 81 from 44 balls before he fell, a knock that earned him the player of the match award, and Tilak finished unbeaten on 60 from 29.
India closed on 219 for 5, a total built almost entirely after the top two had gone. Recovering that far from that start says plenty about the depth India are now working with.
Zimbabwe’s chase never got going
Chasing 220 asks a side to take risks from the first ball, and Zimbabwe never found a partnership long enough to make those risks pay. Brian Bennett top-scored with 32. Nobody else could build past him, and the innings folded for 129 in 17.5 overs.
Abhishek Sharma finished with three wickets, an increasingly useful sideline for a batter who is picked for what he does at the top of the order. Yash Thakur, handed his India debut, took two. For a bowling attack made up largely of players still establishing themselves at this level, closing out a chase this cleanly matters as much as the margin does.
A series won by the reserves
This is not India’s first-choice T20I side and nobody has pretended otherwise. The squad that travelled to Harare is a look at the next tier, captained by Iyer and built around players who have spent the last two seasons knocking on the door.
What it has produced is two convincing wins in three days. India took Thursday’s opener by seven wickets, with 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi reaching his maiden international fifty from 18 balls, the youngest player ever to get there. The follow-up was more emphatic still, and the series is gone with a game to play.
The third T20I is at the same ground on Sunday, starting at 4.30pm IST. Dead rubbers of this kind usually mean a look at whoever has been carrying drinks, which for a squad assembled to test the fringes is arguably the most useful part of the whole trip.