India’s prodigy Sooryavanshi leads the way in T20 series success

HARARE (Agencies): India’s teenage prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi blasted an impressive 81 runs on Sunday to steer his side to a 3-0 whitewash of hosts Zimbabwe in ​their Twenty20 series. India elected to bat after winning the toss in the ‌final clash of the three-match series and scored 192-5 before restricting Zimbabwe’s reply to 157-7 to complete a 35-run victory at the Harare Sports Club. Sooryavanshi notched up his highest international score off 49 ​balls before falling to a superb diving catch from Brad Evans, running in ​from long off, to snag the wicket for Wessly Madhevere. The 15-year-old showed incredible ⁠strength with an array of attacking shots as he bettered the 50 runs ​he scored off 19 balls against Zimbabwe in Thursday’s opening match of the brief series. Sooryavanshi’s ​success in the Indian Premier League meant he became his country’s youngest debutant earlier this month against England but he made a slow start with scores of 14, 13 and 15 before being ​dropped for the last match of the T20 series.

But he has taken the opportunity ​to showcase his prodigious talent in Zimbabwe, also doing the business in the slips as he snagged ‌a ⁠sharp catch at slip off Mayank Yadav to see Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett dismissed first ball as the hosts began their reply with the worst possible start. None of the home batsmen managed to get on top of the Indian bowling, despite some dropped ​catches and sloppy fielding, ​although Ryan Burl’s unbeaten ⁠54 off 43 balls was Zimbabwe’s best knock of the three-match series. Mayank was the pick of the Indian bowlers as ​he took 3-29. Sooryavanshi was named man-of-the-match and also player-of-the-series. “It felt very good. I ​played in ⁠the U19 World Cup here as well and I feel good playing here. Everyone backed me, including the coach and the captain,” said the 15-year-old. “I tried to play my usual ⁠T20 ​game and tried to give the team a good ​start and then play a long innings if I manage a good start. It is a dream come ​true. First man-of-the-match and man-of-the-series.”

Brief scores:

India 192 for 5 (Sooryavanshi 81, Kishan 29, Evans 2-41) beat Zimbabwe 157 for 7 (Burl 54*, Madhevere 28, Mayank 3-29, Thakur 2-45) by 35 runs.