India Women Beat Zimbabwe Women by 92 Runs — Harmanpreet's Vintage 91* Caps a 3-0 Sweep

Dead rubbers are supposed to be for experiments, and India's experiment was simple: bat first and see what the middle order can do with time. Smriti Mandhana said as much at the toss, then did not bat. Anushka Sharma moved up to open. And Harmanpreet Kaur, who had made 1 on Friday and not batted on Sunday, walked in at 68 for 2 in the eighth over and showed exactly why she was worth the experiment.

She and Shafali Verma added 84 in 41 balls, and India finished on 216 for 7, their joint-third-highest T20I total. Zimbabwe fought, with Sharne Mayers' 60 and an 82-run stand with Beloved Biza, but never threatened. India Women 216 for 7 (20 overs). Zimbabwe Women 124 for 7 (20 overs). India won by 92 runs to complete a 3-0 sweep. Harmanpreet, 91 not out from 41 balls, was Player of the Match; Shafali, with 128 runs, was Player of the Series.

Shafali and Anushka were watchful for a couple of overs before Shafali launched Tendai Makusha over deep backward square in the second over, and the pair took Makusha's next over for 16 to bring up the fifty stand in the fifth. Nyasha Gwanzura ended Anushka's 20-ball 28 with a leaping catch at midwicket, and Niki Prasad, at No. 3, sliced Gwanzura to mid-off, where Loryn Phiri held the rebound. India were 59 for 1 after the powerplay and 68 for 2 in the eighth over.

Shafali's answer was three sixes and a four in five balls, and a 26-ball fifty, her 23rd in T20Is and ninth this year. Harmanpreet, meanwhile, hit one boundary in her first 12 balls and then took 20 off a Kudzai Chigora over with two fours and two sixes. When Shafali holed out to long-on off Biza for 69 at 152 for 3, Harmanpreet kept going: three boundaries in a Sibanda over brought up her 19th T20I fifty from 25 balls, and she twice charged Biza, for sixes of 82 and 89 metres. Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy and Prema Rawat all fell cheaply around her, so the middle-order time India wanted went almost entirely to one batter. She will not mind.

With the ball, Kranti Gaud struck first ball when Kelis Ndhlovu sliced to Prasad, who dived to her right at short extra cover. Nandani Sharma had Modester Mupachikwa caught behind in the second over, upheld on review, and came back to take two in the final over for 3 for 18. Deepti went for 18 in four overs, and Prasad's two overs cost five. The one costly spell came from Rawat, in for Shree Charani, who went for 36 in three overs and was taken for two sixes and a four by Mayers.

The happiest thing about Zimbabwe's evening was in the field. Gwanzura's leap at midwicket, Phiri's alertness to the parry at mid-off, and Makusha's running catch at long-on to end Shafali were catches any side would be proud of. Biza's 3 for 50 included Shafali and two of the late wickets; Makusha had Deepti caught behind for a three-ball duck. Defending against Harmanpreet in that mood was another matter: Chigora's three overs went for 40 and Makusha's four for 45.

The chase was effectively over at 12 for 2 in the second over. Mayers and Biza rebuilt with an 82-run stand from 78 balls, prioritising strike rotation, and Mayers took on Rawat for two sixes and a four on her way to a 60 from 49 balls. But at drinks Zimbabwe were 62 for 2 with the required rate at 15.50, and once Mayers miscued Prasad to Shafali in the 15th over, four wickets fell for 30. Biza's 44 from 50 was brave, but it was a holding innings in a match that needed an assault. Across three games, Zimbabwe's batters showed they can survive this attack; the next step is learning to score against it.

We weren't at the ground, so we go by the scorecard and ESPNcricinfo's report. On Sunday the Raipur pitch was grippy and slow; on Tuesday India took 216 off it, and 200 came up in 18.3 overs. Zimbabwe's 124, and Mayers and Biza's 50-ball fifty stand, suggest the ball still did not come on easily for batters looking to work it around, but anyone willing to step out and hit through the line, as Harmanpreet did against Biza, was rewarded. Extras were modest: 10 conceded by Zimbabwe and seven by India.

Two games, one run. That was Harmanpreet's series before Tuesday. Then 91 not out from 41 balls, ten fours, five sixes, her second-highest T20I score, and a 25-ball fifty that she treated as a waypoint rather than a destination. The best of it was the way she started: one boundary in 12 balls, letting Shafali take the risks, reading the bowlers. Then the Chigora over, then the walks down the pitch to Biza, the ball landing farther away each time. She took strike for the last over on 81 and could only find 10, so the hundred stayed out of reach. Some innings are about the milestone. This one was about reminding everyone, perhaps herself included, that the old gears are all still there.

Our preview called India "overwhelming favourites", and a 92-run win is about as clear a confirmation as a T20I gives. We also wrote that "if India's top order fires, it could be over quickly", and Shafali's 69 and a 59-run powerplay did exactly that. We named Harmanpreet "the X-factor" who on her day can turn a game, and Tuesday was her day.

Plenty of the rest did not hold up. We framed Smriti Mandhana as the tempo-setter at the top; she did not bat. We suggested match time for Jemimah Rodrigues, Renuka Singh Thakur and Pooja Vastrakar; none of them played. For Zimbabwe we pointed to Modester Mupachikwa and Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano with the bat, and they made 1 and 7; it was Mayers and Biza who carried the innings. Our preview also called their bowler "Joylord Gwanzura", while the scorecard has Nyasha Gwanzura, and it had the match on Monday rather than Tuesday. Result and Harmanpreet right; much of the detail around them, wrong.

India Women have won the T20I series 3-0. Shafali, Player of the Series with 128 runs, now has nine T20I fifties this year, and Harmanpreet's innings answers one question India were asking of their middle order. Another remains: Ghosh, Deepti, Reddy and Rawat made nine runs between them on Tuesday. For Zimbabwe, the field and the Mayers-Biza stand are the positives to take into whatever comes next on this tour, along with the lesson that 120-odd will not trouble this India side.