Harare, July 14: Vice-captain Sanju Samson smashed his second T20I fifty, while Shivam Dube hit a quick cameo of 26 runs in 12 deliveries at the end to power India to a competitive 167/6 in the fifth and final T20I against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

Samson was at his languid best, hitting a boundary and four maximums in his 45-ball 58. He also shared a 65-run stand off 56 balls for the fourth wicket with Riyan Parag, to bail India out of trouble after losing their top three in power-play.

Dube’s cameo of 26, along with some lofty hits at the end from Rinku Singh took India past 160, as 30 runs came off the last two overs. For Zimbabwe, Blessing Muzarabani was the pick of bowlers with 2/19 in his four overs, while their fielding, despite good catches being taken, had some lapses – three dropped chances, along with some fumbles.

Yashasvi Jaiswal gave India a blistering start by swatting Sikandar Raza for consecutive sixes on the first two balls of the innings, including off a no-ball. But Raza struck back by getting the ball to come in late and go past Jaiswal’s attempted on-drive to send the leg-stump on a walk.

Abhishek Sharma was lucky to have been dropped by Brian Bennett at cover-point off Muzarabani, but the pacer bounced back by having the left-handed batter nick behind an angled across delivery to keeper Clive Madande.

Shubman Gill didn’t look much fluent in his stay at the crease, and was dismissed by Richard Ngarava when he tried to top-edged a pull to mid-on. In rebuilding India’s innings, Samson dealt majorly in boundaries – striking three wonderful sixes with his beautiful bat-swing, including a monstrous 110m hit.

Brandon Mavuta gave Zimbabwe the breakthrough when Parag miscued his loft to long-off. But Samson marched forward by smashing boundaries to get his fifty, before pulling straight to deep mid-wicket and fall for 45-ball 58 off Muzarabani.

Dube hit four cracking boundaries in his 12-ball 26 before a miscommunication with Rinku led to his run-out in the final over. Rinku lofted Faraz Akram down the ground for six, as 14 runs came off the final over.

Brief Scores: India 167/6 (Sanju Samson 58, Shivam Dube 26; Blessing Muzarabani 2-19, Richard Ngarava 1-29) against Zimbabwe

--IANS

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