Zimbabwe stunned a young Indian side led by Shubman Gill on July 6 as they defended the target of 116 successfully winning the match by 13 runs at Harare Sports Club. Indian batters lacked application in the run chase. Dhruv Jurel who made his T20I debut fell to Luke Jongwe as India lost half their side in the 10th over. After the wicket, Jongwe brought out the ‘shoe call celebration’. After the match, Jongwe revealed why he celebrated it like that.
“I came up with the idea for the celebration while I was on a call with my girlfriend Brenda (Jasi). We were actually discussing a celebration I would do if I get a wicket the next day in my hotel room so I went with the shoe celebration.
"I told her each time I get a wicket I would be calling you and I hope I won’t run out of airtime,” the Zimbabwe cricketer was quoted as saying by The Standard.
Jurel scored just six runs from 14 balls. He handed a catch to short cover fielder Wesley Madhevere. While Jongwe took the key wicket, he was the most expensive bowler in Zimbabwe bowling lineup. He conceded 28 runs from his quota of four overs. In his last over, he conceded 12 runs as Washington Sundar attacked with nine wickets down in the run chase.
Raza ecstatic after 1-0 lead
Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza was happy with his team's win. However, he is vary of the threat India pose despite having an inexperienced lineup.
“Feel really happy about the win. Need to take one game at a time. The job is not done, series is not over. World champions play like world champions so we need to be ready for the next game,” Raza said.
“This isn't a wicket where you get bowled out for 115. Credit to the bowlers of both sides. Clearly an indication we need to up our skills. I said I don't care about the result as long as we could be true to the crowd and changing room, we had our plans, we stuck to it and we backed our guys. Our catching and ground fielding was amazing but we did make some errors, shows there's room for improvement. We knew the fans would lift us up and give us energy, credit to them, it helped us.”
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
