India won the first T20I against Zimbabwe by 7 wickets.
India and Zimbabwe played the first T20I of the three-match series on July 23, 2026, at the Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe. India captain Shreyas Iyer, looking for his first T20I win as skipper, won the toss and chose to bowl first.
India gave a T20I debut to Ashok Sharma, while Mayank Yadav made his India return after a long time. He made an immediate impact, dismissing Brian Bennett on the first ball of the match and then sent back Dion Myers for 6 runs. Prince Yadav dismissed debutant Ben Curran for 10 runs, and captain Sikandar Raza was dismissed by Shivam Dube for 4 runs.
Ryan Burl (26), Wessly Madhevere (39) and Tadiwanashe Marumani (27*) took Zimbabwe to a respectable 125/7 in 20 overs. Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav picked up two wickets each for India.
In response, Blessing Muzarabani removed Abhishek Sharma early for one run, but by then Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was ripping apart the Zimbabwe bowlers at the other end. He hammered runs to all parts of the Harare Cricket Club and handled the short-pitch bowling as well.
He hit 4 fours and 4 sixes on his way to his maiden T20I fifty for India, reaching the milestone in just 18 balls. Sooryavanshi looked good on the pitch and was confident with his shots. He celebrated his maiden fifty with the ‘A’ sign as he had done in the IPL 2026, which was a tribute for his mother Aarti, and also showed double thumbs up.
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However, he was dismissed soon after. But then Ishan Kishan (35) and Shreyas Iyer (28*) made sure that India won the game with 7 wickets in hand in 13.2 overs and went 1-0 up in the series. The second and third matches will be played at the same venue on July 25 and 26.