India Women Beat Zimbabwe Women by 9 Wickets — Shafali and Mandhana Turn a Chase of 103 Into a Fifty-Three-Ball Formality

Some chases are negotiated; this one was simply taken. On Friday India had needed a fifth-wicket rescue to get past 114. On Sunday, set 103 on the same Raipur strip, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana had 76 on the board without loss by the end of the powerplay and the match was over before the floodlights had properly warmed up. The second innings lasted 53 balls. Zimbabwe's had contained 71 dot balls on their own.

The difference between the two evenings was largely the difference between the two sets of openers. Zimbabwe chose to bat, could not get the ball past the inner ring, and finished on 102 for 8. India's pair met a slow pitch with fast hands. Zimbabwe Women 102 for 8 (20 overs). India Women 104 for 1 (8.5 overs). India won by nine wickets with 67 balls to spare, Mandhana finished it with a six over extra cover, and with it came her first series win as India's full-time captain. Shafali, 55 from 25 balls, was Player of the Match.

Mandhana said at the toss she wanted her side to be more disciplined with the ball, and the new-ball pair answered her literally. Kranti Gaud (4-0-15-1) and Nandani Sharma kept hitting a good length, using a little shape in the air and the grip off the surface, and Zimbabwe crawled to 20 for 1 in the powerplay. Nandani bowled Kelis Ndhlovu, Friday's top-scorer, for an 11-ball duck; Deepti Sharma had Beloved Biza caught at extra cover two balls after the fielding restrictions lifted. Seven bowlers were used and five of them took a wicket, with two run-outs on top, which is what a captain means when she talks about discipline.

The decisive burst came from Niki Prasad, the debutant of Friday's rescue act, now trusted with the ball. Introduced for the 15th over, she had Mugeri-Tiripano caught behind by Richa Ghosh first ball, then trapped Nyasha Gwanzura lbw next ball, upheld on review. ESPNcricinfo noted she became only the fourth bowler in women's internationals to take wickets with her first two legitimate deliveries. Zimbabwe went from 75 for 3 to 75 for 5, and the rest of the innings brought only 27 more.

The chase needs less explaining than enjoying. Mandhana took four fours in a row off Gwanzura in the fifth over, to cow corner, long-off, deep square leg and long-off again; Shafali took the last ball of that over down the track and inside-out over extra cover. The fifty stand took 28 balls, the hundred came up in 8.5 overs, and of the 96 the openers added, 84 came in boundaries. Shafali reached her fifty from 24 balls and holed out to long-on next ball off Biza with seven needed; Anushka Sharma faced four balls, and Mandhana did the rest.

Zimbabwe's two meaningful innings came from players who thought their way through. Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano reverse-swept Shree Charani for back-to-back fours in the tenth over and made 34 from 32; captain Josephine Nkomo stayed to the end for 27 not out from 35 to make sure all twenty overs were batted and three figures reached. Their fourth-wicket stand of 45 was the only period in which Zimbabwe looked settled, and it was helped by India: Shafali dropped Mugeri-Tiripano off Charani in the 12th over and Gaud put her down at long-on in the 13th.

The lesson is the one their own scorecard tells. Ndhlovu, Biza and Sharne Mayers all fell trying to force a pace the pitch would not allow, and Modester Mupachikwa and Francisca Chipare were both run out chasing runs that were not there. With the ball, Gwanzura, the hero of Friday with 3 for 18, went for 42 from three overs. On this surface, 102 was perhaps 25 short of competitive. Without a batter who can clear the ring early, Zimbabwe will keep asking their middle order to do two jobs at once.

We weren't at the ground, so we go by the scorecard and ESPNcricinfo's report, which described the Raipur pitch as grippy and slow. Zimbabwe's 71 dot balls and a first fifty that took 59 balls bear that out. India's chase showed the other half of the picture: anything too wide or too full at the pads was punished: the openers between them hit 12 fours and six sixes. Extras were 12 conceded by India, one by Zimbabwe.

Friday was a night to forget for Shafali: four runs from two balls and three wicketless overs. Sunday was the reply. She was the quicker of the two openers, 55 from 25 with six fours and four sixes, and her fifty arrived from 24 balls. The innings had a lovely rhythm to it: Mandhana working the gaps and moving her feet, Shafali stepping out to clear them. There was a dropped catch in the field earlier in the evening, too, and she more than repaid it. Of the 96 they added, her share was the bolder half.

Our preview made India heavy favourites, and that was right. Our India player to watch was Smriti Mandhana "for her powerplay batting", and India's 76 for 0 in the first six overs, with Mandhana unbeaten on 47 at the finish, made that look like the easiest call we have made all month; we also said Zimbabwe's best hope was to remove Mandhana cheaply, and they could not. For Zimbabwe we pointed vaguely to "the allrounders", which was not a useful pick: Gwanzura went for a first-ball duck and 0 for 42, and the only Zimbabwe wicket came from Biza's single over. We also described Raipur as a true surface with pace and carry; the match report called it grippy and slow, and Zimbabwe's 102 for 8 suggests the report was nearer the mark. And we named Radha Yadav among India's spinners; she did not bowl. Result right, Mandhana right, conditions wrong.

India Women lead the three-match series 2-0 and have sealed it with a game to spare. The third and final T20I is back at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Tuesday, October 20. With the series won, the interest for India lies in whether Mandhana gives more overs to Prasad and more time in the middle to the batters who have barely faced a ball in two games. For Zimbabwe, it is a last chance on this tour to find a way to score in the powerplay, and to take home the win their effort on Friday nearly earned.