 "India vs Zimbabwe, 1st T20I Stats: Hosts set a new record after ending Men in Blue's winning streak")
A week after winning the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup in thrilling fashion, the high-flying Indian team came crashing back down to earth with a stunning 13-run loss at the hands of Zimbabwe in the first of five T20Is in Harare on Saturday.
It was by no means the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team that won the World Cup without losing a single match that ended up on the losing side on Saturday. Shubman Gill is leading a second-string side comprising players who had been overlooked for India’s T20 World Cup campaign, as well as those who have shone in the IPL but remained uncapped at the international level.
Despite the inexperience in their ranks, the Men in Blue were expected begin their journey to the 2026 T20 World Cup with a victory on Saturday, even if they needed to put up a much tougher fight than what a full-strength side would have had to.
Few, however, would have expected them to end up on the losing side, just a week after winning the ICC’s showpiece T20 event for only the second time. That too after being set 116 to win by a side that had failed to qualify for a 20-team T20 World Cup.
As It Happened | India vs Zimbabwe, 1st T20I in Harare
As we look back at the events of the first T20I, we take a look at some of the milestones achieved and other statistics:
— India’s 13-run loss against Zimbabwe is their first defeat in the T20I format in 2024. They had swept a three-match series against Afghanistan earlier this year and had remained unbeaten in the T20 World Cup.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts— Zimbabwe’s score of 115/9 is now the lowest total successfully defended against India in T20Is, surpassing New Zealand’s 126/9 in Nagpur in the 2016 T20 World Cup. It’s also the second-lowest total successfully defended by the Chevrons in all T20Is after their score of 105 against West Indies in 2010.
— Their score of 102 against Zimbabwe on Saturday is their sixth-lowest in a completed T20 innings.
— Saturday’s defeat also brought to an end India’s streak of 12 consecutive wins in T20Is. India had won the final T20I against South Africa in December last year followed by a 3-0 whitewash of Afghanistan in January. They would then go on to collect eight wins in the T20 World Cup, with one group match, against Canada in Lauderhill, getting washed out completely.
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