{"id":2891,"date":"2026-10-23T08:38:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T08:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/23\/deepti-sharma-niki-prasad-india-zimbabwe-t20i-win\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T08:38:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T08:38:02","slug":"deepti-sharma-niki-prasad-india-zimbabwe-t20i-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/23\/deepti-sharma-niki-prasad-india-zimbabwe-t20i-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Deepti Sharma and debutant Niki Prasad steer India to 4\u2011wicket win over Zimbabwe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>India Women secured a four\u2011wicket triumph over Zimbabwe Women in the opening T20 International of a three\u2011match series in Raipur, extending their winning run in the format to a record nine straight matches. The victory, achieved with 26 balls remaining, was anchored by a decisive 82\u2011run stand between Deepti Sharma, who scored 49, and debutant Niki Prasad, who remained unbeaten on 39.<\/p>\n<h2>Zimbabwe\u2019s innings: a solid start turned costly<\/h2>\n<p>Winning the toss, India\u2019s full\u2011time captain Smriti Mandhana elected to field, and Zimbabwe began their chase with a promising opening partnership. Beloved Biza fell lbw to Kranti Gaud in the very first over, but Kelis Ndhlovu soon steadied the innings, reaching 42 runs off 30 balls at one point. Partner Modester Mupachikwa contributed before being caught by Charani, who claimed a return catch to remove her.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Ndhlovu\u2019s brisk start, his momentum stalled. He was eventually bowled by a slower ball from Arundhati Reddy in the 15th over, after surviving a close catch at long\u2011off that the third umpire ruled had touched the ground. Sharne Mayers then took charge, finishing unbeaten on 43 off 33 balls, punctuated by four fours and two sixes, including a 15\u2011run over off Arundhati\u2019s 18th over.<\/p>\n<p>In the final over, bowler Nandani Sharma gave away only three runs, while wicket\u2011keeper Richa Ghosh effected two stumpings\u2014first of Nyasha Gwanzura and then of Michelle Mavunga\u2014on consecutive deliveries. Zimbabwe posted a total of 114 for 5 in their allotted 20 overs.<\/p>\n<h2>India\u2019s chase: early collapse and a record partnership<\/h2>\n<p>India\u2019s reply began positively with 14 runs off Tendai Makusha\u2019s opening over, but the momentum quickly shifted. Nyasha Gwanzura struck first blood, dismissing captain Smriti Mandhana on the very first ball, the edge carrying to square leg. Three balls later, Anushka Sharma was caught at point.<\/p>\n<p>The second over turned into a wicket maiden as Michelle Mavunga trapped former captain Harmanpreet Kaur, playing her first match since stepping down from the role, at short mid\u2011wicket. Gwanzura then claimed a sharp return catch to remove Shafali Verma. Within the first 19 balls, India found themselves 19 for 4, marking the first occasion the side had lost its first four wickets inside the opening four overs of a T20 International.<\/p>\n<p>At this critical juncture, Deepti Sharma joined the newcomer Niki Prasad at the crease. Sharma immediately counter\u2011attacked, lofting Gwanzura for two fours in the final over of the Powerplay. The pair continued to accelerate, adding 15 runs off Olinder Chare\u2019s tenth over and seeing Sharma dispatch Mavunga for three fours in the 12th over. Their partnership of 82 runs, compiled from 63 deliveries, set a new Indian record for the highest stand for the fifth wicket or lower in women\u2019s T20 Internationals.<\/p>\n<p>Sharma fell just one run short of a half\u2011century in the 14th over, sweeping Chare to short fine leg, before being caught by Richa Ghosh at deep mid\u2011wicket off a delivery from Biza. Niki Prasad, undeterred, guided India to the finish, sealing the win with a confident drive past mid\u2011off in the 16th over.<\/p>\n<h2>Key figures and series implications<\/h2>\n<p>The match statistics underline the individual contributions that shaped the outcome. For Zimbabwe, Nyasha Gwanzura claimed three wickets for 18 runs, while Sharne Mayers and Kelis Ndhlovu each contributed more than 40 runs. India\u2019s bowling effort was highlighted by Nandani Sharma\u2019s economical 2\u201111 spell and Shree Charani\u2019s 1\u201114.<\/p>\n<p>Chasing a modest target of 115, India reached 116 for 6 in 15.4 overs, securing a four\u2011wicket victory and taking a 1\u20110 lead in the series. The win also marked Smriti Mandhana\u2019s inaugural match as the side\u2019s full\u2011time captain, adding a leadership milestone to the on\u2011field success.<\/p>\n<p>With the series now in India\u2019s favour, the next two fixtures will test whether the women\u2019s side can extend their historic winning streak further. The partnership between Sharma and Prasad, the early wickets taken by Gwanzura, and the effective finishing by Mayers will all be points of analysis as both teams prepare for the remaining games.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deepti Sharma\u2019s 49 and debutant Niki Prasad\u2019s unbeaten 39 rescued India from 19\u2011for\u20114 to clinch a four\u2011wicket victory over Zimbabwe in Raipur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[3222,3151,3223,2863,2230,3152],"class_list":["post-2891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-deepti-sharma","tag-india-women","tag-niki-prasad","tag-t20-international","tag-womens-cricket","tag-zimbabwe-women","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}