India Women Beat Zimbabwe as Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma Hit Centuries to Win Series

Indian women’s cricket team’s two of the most experienced players, all-rounder Deepti Sharma and former captain Harmanpreet Kaur led from the front to seal the match and the series 2-0 in the second ODI match against Zimbabwe in Vadodara. The win also marked Smriti Mandhana’s first series victory as the full-time India captain.

Harmanpreet scored 126 off 121 balls while Deepti remained unbeaten at 106 off 86 balls, carrying her bat through the innings and helping India set a formidable total of 328 for six after the team had a disastrous start to the innings. India were reduced to 19 for 2, but Pratika Rawal contributed 61 runs helping India recover from the early jolt.

Later, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma put on a record fifth-wicket partnership for India in women’s ODI adding 155 runs. Coming into the chase, Zimbabwe got off to a steady start, and they offered resistance through Modester Mupachikwa and Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, however, their batting eventually lost momentum.

The young slow left-arm orthodox spinner, Vaishnavi Sharma, playing only her second ODI for India, was the pick of the bowlers for India. She picked 4 wickets and gave away just 39 runs. Deepti also contributed with the ball, picking up three late wickets to wrap the tail and close the match in the 49th over, leaving Zimbabwe 121 runs short of their target.