Vaishnavi Sharma took her first five-for, and India finished a 3-0 sweep of Zimbabwe with 33 overs to spare
Vaishnavi Sharma’s 5 for 39 bowled Zimbabwe out for 131 in Vadodara, and India won the third ODI by eight wickets in 17 overs. Zimbabwe lose all six games of their first tour of India.
Oct 28, 2026
India finished their series against Zimbabwe the way they started it. They bowled the visitors out for 131 in Vadodara on Wednesday, knocked off the runs in 17 overs and won the third ODI by eight wickets, with 33 overs to spare.
That makes it 3-0 in the ODIs, after the 3-0 in the T20Is in Raipur. Zimbabwe leave India having lost all six games of the tour.
Vaishnavi’s first five-for
Zimbabwe won the toss and batted, and they were in trouble inside three overs. Sayali Satghare had Loryn Phiri caught by the wicketkeeper, Yastika Bhatia, for a duck in the second over, and Kranti Gaud got rid of Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano for 4 in the third. Beloved Biza, the 17-year-old who had been Zimbabwe’s best batter in the first two games, scratched 1 from 16 balls.
Modester Mupachikwa made 37 and the captain, Josephine Nkomo, 35, but neither could turn a start into an innings, and this was where Vaishnavi Sharma took over. The left-arm spinner worked through the middle and lower order and finished with 5 for 39 from her ten overs, her first five-wicket haul in international cricket.
She had taken 4 for 39 on Sunday as well. Nine wickets for 78 runs in two games is a hard number to argue with, and it is the kind of week that gets a young spinner picked again when the opposition is a lot stronger than Zimbabwe.
Satghare and Kranti took two wickets each, and Zimbabwe were all out in the 40th over.
Rawal and Shafali finish it quickly
The chase began badly. Bhatia, opening, was caught by Francisca Chipare off Nomvelo Sibanda from the first ball she faced. Harleen Deol made 19 from 19 before she edged one down the leg side off Phiri to Mupachikwa, who was keeping wicket.
After that it was all India. Pratika Rawal, who had made 100 not out and 61 in the first two games, was in charge again, and Shafali Verma hit hard at the other end. The two of them saw India home from 59 for 2 without being parted, and the last 40-odd runs came at a sprint.
Those 33 spare overs say plenty about the gap between the sides. The more useful thing for India is who did the damage. Rawal has made runs every time she has batted in this series and has been dismissed once, and Vaishnavi bowled her full ten overs like someone who expects to be given them again.
What it counts for
The series is part of the ICC Women’s Championship, so Wednesday’s win was worth as many points as either of the first two. India won every game against Zimbabwe on this tour, and their captain, Smriti Mandhana, did not even need to bat on Wednesday. I would like to have seen her get a hit before the series ended, but that is a small complaint about a week this one-sided.