A half-century from Sanju Samson and a four-wicket haul from Mukesh Kumar helped India to beat Zimbabwe by 42 runs in the fifth and final T20I in Harare on Sunday. Men in Blue continued to assert their dominance in T20 cricket, sealing the series with a commanding 4-1 victory. A fine bowling performance by the Indian bowlers in the middle overs helped them to bowl out Zimbabwe for 125, resulting in a convincing win. Up next, India will travel to Sri Lanka to play an exciting three-match T20I series followed by a three-match ODI series, starting July 26.

Earlier, the visitors batted well to recover from a shaky start as they lost the top-order batters in quick succession. Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza cleaned up the in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal (12) in the very first over. Blessing Muzarabani then dismissed Abhishek Sharma (14) to apply a brake on India’s scoring rate. In the next over, Richard Ngarava bagged Indian captain Shubman Gill (13) to put his side under pressure. However, Samson and Riyan Parag steadied the Indian ship, adding 65 runs for the fourth wicket.

Samson batted brilliantly to reach his half-century, smashing four sixes and a four while Parag played a handy knock of 22. After Samson’s departure, Shivam Dube (26) and Rinku Singh (11*) gave India a good finish, helping their side to reach 167/6 in 20 overs.

In reply, Mukesh stunned the hosts by bowling out Wesley Madhevere for a duck in the first over. In his next over, the right-arm pacer dismissed Brian Bennett for 10. Tadiwanashe Marumani and Dion Myers played crucial knocks of 27 and 34 respectively to keep Zimbabwe alive in the chase. However, Indian bowlers made the scoring difficult in the middle overs, which caused a collapse and the hosts eventually, lost the match.