6, 6, 6, 6… 8 fours! Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s 81 lights up Harare, misses world record

New Delhi: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has once again shown why he is regarded as one of the brightest young talents in world cricket. After announcing himself with a record-breaking half-century earlier in the series, the 15-year-old produced another impressive knock against Zimbabwe in the third T20I. Although he narrowly missed out on a century, the youngster played a mature innings that once again underlined his enormous potential.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi plays another match-winning knock

The young left-hander scored 81 runs off 49 balls, striking at 165.30. His innings included eight fours and four sixes as he anchored India’s batting with a mix of aggression and composure.

Vaibhav is known for his fearless strokeplay and explosive strike-rate but this time around he showed a different side of his game. Instead of attacking every delivery, he assessed the conditions well, adjusted to the slower surface and built his innings patiently before accelerating.

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Youngster misses out on historic T20I record

Vaibhav came close to creating history with the bat. Had he converted his innings into a century, he would have become the youngest player ever to score a T20 International hundred.

At just 15 years and 121 days, the teenage opener fell short of that milestone but still delivered another memorable performance to strengthen his growing reputation in international cricket.

India aim for clean sweep against Zimbabwe

India had already secured the three-match series after taking a 2-0 lead with a dominant 90-run victory in the second T20I. A win in the final game would complete a 3-0 clean sweep.

After winning the toss, captain Shreyas Iyer chose to bat first and confirmed two changes to the playing XI. Fast bowler Prince Yadav missed the match due to a left hamstring injury suffered in the previous game, with Ashok Sharma coming into the side. Suryansh Shedge also replaced Shivam Dube.

Speaking at the toss, Iyer said: “We’re going to bat first considering that we are playing on the same wicket and anticipating for it to get slower and slower. Certainly, we got 220 on the board and we got a phenomenal start the way boys played. It’s just, you know, coming today in the morning and reflecting back on those performances give me thrills, and obviously I want to replicate the same performance again.

“It’s going to be important for us to adapt as quickly as possible. Can’t guarantee how the wicket is going to play. Is it going to be similar to yesterday or not? But as we adapt quickly, the better for us, and then we’ll try to put a great score on the board.”

India and Zimbabwe playing XI for 3rd T20I

Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Ben Curran, Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza (captain), Ryan Burl, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Brad Evans, Newman Nyamhuri, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani.

India: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Ravi Bishnoi, Ashok Sharma, Yash Thakur, Mayank Yadav.