It wasn’t scintillating, but it was certainly expressive. At 15 years and 121 days, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi came close to becoming the youngest player to score an international hundred at senior level. He eventually perished for 81 off 49 balls, thanks to a superb diving catch by Brad Evans. Shahid Afridi’s record of scoring an international hundred at 16 years and 217 days therefore remains intact. But Sooryavanshi’s knock in the third T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare on Sunday oozed maturity, and that was the biggest takeaway.
A strike rate of 165.30 is quick by any standards. In Sooryavanshi’s case, however, it appears a little underwhelming on the face of it. When he gets going, especially on pitches that don’t offer steep bounce or seam movement, Sooryavanshi motors along at a strike rate of over 200 for fun. The third game was played on a used surface and it was sluggish enough to blunt natural stroke-play. The batsmen had very little pace to work with, which forced the teenager to adjust. Until this game, he had appeared to be a one-trick pony in international cricket. Today, Sooryavanshi showed there was another side to his batting.
His first international half-century, in the opening match of the ongoing series, was a 19-ball whirlwind. In this innings, Sooryavanshi resorted to calculated aggression, capitalising on loose deliveries in the powerplay before transitioning into a positive anchor role. His fifty came off 31 balls and included six fours and two sixes. The youngster mixed caution with aggression, and that was a refreshing change. Yes, Zimbabwe’s bowling lacked consistency and a boundary ball was always around the corner. But that wasn’t Sooryavanshi’s problem. A player can only play what is in front of him.
The Zimbabwe tour will help him feel much better after his travails against Jofra Archer in England. It was a baptism of fire. This series is a couple of levels below the top rung and, when Sanju Samson returns for the Asian Games, he will be the team’s first-choice opener alongside Abhishek Sharma. But Sooryavanshi will return from Zimbabwe with the belief that he belongs.
Abhishek Sharma’s form a concern
Abhishek’s form, though, has suddenly become a concern for India. In 18 T20I innings since the start of the World Cup earlier this year, the left-hand batter has scored 332 runs at an average of 18.44. Not so long ago, when Abhishek was the world’s best T20I batsman, he was averaging over 37. He has produced runs intermittently, such as his half-century in the World Cup final. But today was the 11th time in his last 18 T20Is that he fell for 10 or fewer. It was an ungainly, flat-batted attempt against Blessing Muzarabani as the opener departed for two. Yet again, he fell prey to poor shot selection.
Once India had posted 192/5, it was always their game to lose. Zimbabwe stayed in the contest for a while because the tourists continued their habit of dropping catches — four in total. But the hosts eventually finished on 157/7 to lose by 35 runs.
A 3-0 clean sweep, coming on the heels of six losses across tours of Ireland and England, cannot be considered perfect atonement. But this was a potential banana skin, and India will be pleased with the outcome.
Brief scores: India 192/5 (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 81; Brad Evans 2/41) beat Zimbabwe 157/7 (Ryan Burl 54*; Mayank Yadav 3/29) by 35 runs.
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