Ish Sodhi's aggressive bowling, claiming 4 for 12, along with half-centuries from Tim Seifert and Rachin Ravindra, enabled New Zealand to clinch a 60-run victory over Zimbabwe, thus emerging as the point table leaders in the T20I tri-series held in Harare.New Zealand decided to bat first. Although Tim Robinson got out early, New Zealand's 2nd wicket partnership of Seifert and Ravindra (75 off 45 and 63 off 39 respectively) propelled New Zealand to a commanding total of 190 for 6. While the wicket may have been a touch on the slower side, the opening partnership was able to score 57 for 1 during the PowerPlay.Ravindra was the more aggressive of the two and Zimbabwe bowlers had to face the brunt of his offensive approach from the very start. He reached his half-century in 32 balls, and during that phase, was even granted a reprieve on 46. Seifert moved to his fifty a touch quicker which was his 12th in T20Is, during the 33rd ball after the duo had raised the 100 for their partnership.Tinotenda Maposa has broken through for two wickets in as many overs, giving the hosts some hope of mounting a fightback. Ravindra and Mark Chapmen perished in the blink of an eye. Seifert counter-attacked, hitting Sikandar Raza for a six and then Richard Ngarava for three consecutive boundaries. Ngarava, however, got his payback shortly after, dismissing Seifert for 75 and then Bevon Jacobs the very next ball.Although New Zealand lost 4 wickets for 26 runs, Michael Bracewell’s quick 26 runs off 16 balls in the form of a two boundaries and a six ensured New Zealand finished with a respectable score under the conditions. Ngarava, however, was the standout bowler with 4 wickets for 34 runs in his four overs.Once again, it was a dismal outing for the Zimbabwean batters, particularly in the field. New Zealand’s strategy of bringing in a spinner, Sodhi, during the Power Play paid off splendidly as he took three wickets within the next two overs. In a further stroke of bad luck, Matt Henry bowled Raza for 9 and Zimbabwe finished the Power Play with an abysmal 38 runs for four wickets.From that point on, the recovery was extremely challenging, and outside of the 51-run partnership between Tony Munyonga (40 off 30) and Tashinga Musekiwa (21 off 21), there was no indication of resistance. Once again it was Sodhi who ended that partnership, after which the Zimbabwean lower order simply disintegrated. Scores at a glance: New Zealand: 190/6 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 75, and Rachin Ravindra 63; Richard Ngarava 4-34) vs. Zimbabwe: 130 all out in 18.5 overs (Tony Munyonga 40, and Dion Myers 22; Ish Sodhi 4-12, and Matt Henry 2-34) New Zealand won by 60 runs.
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