Zimbabwe T20I Tri-Series 2025: Sodhi's career-best, fifties by Seifert, Rachin take Kiwis flying

A dominant New Zealand side secured a comprehensive 60-run win over Zimbabwe in Match No. 6 of the ongoing T20I Tri-Series 2025 at the Harare Sports Club. This was now their fourth-straight win the series, and they will now be facing South Africa in the grand finale on Saturday, July 26 at the same venue.

A tidy first over from Richard Ngarava paid off for the left-armer, as he produced the wicket of Tim Robinson (10 off 9) on the second delivery of his second over. Despite the early wicket, the BlackCaps raced off to 57/1 at the end of the first six overs. Trevor Gwandu, who had been decently economic earlier in the tournament, had conceded 25 off his first two overs.

The duo of Tim Seifert and Rachin Ravindra got their team to 92/1 at the halfway mark. Rachin brought up his third T20I half-century with a single off the first ball of the 12th over. His able partner Seifert also attained the landmark on the final delivery of the next over. With the two batters set at the crease, a score northwards of 200 was definitely on the cards.

It was just then that Tinotenda Maposa struck twice in the 14th over to get rid of Rachin (63 off 39) and Mark Chapman for a silver duck. The first maximum off Seifert's willow came on the penultimate ball of Sikandar Raza's final over. The wicketkeeper-batter sizzled with three back-to-back fours but was dismissed for 75 off 45 on the fourth delivery of the 17th over.

Ngarava ended his quota with the wicket of Mitchell Santner for a run-a-ball 7. Gwandu was belted for 21 runs in the final over of the innings as New Zealand ended up on 190/6 in their 20 overs, their highest total in the current series. Michael Bracewell ended the innings by tilting the momentum towards the visitors with his 26 off just 16 deliveries.

Zimbabwe start well, but go off balance

Dion Myers, who was opening the batting for the first time in T20Is, kickstarted the innings with a bang by stroking 14 runs off Matt Henry's first over. Santner opted to turn to spin quite early on in the piece. The move to bowl Ish Sodhi in the third over of the run-chase paid off rich dividends. The leg-spinner was all over Zimbabwe when he claimed two more wickets in his second over.

Raza (9 off 5) was sent packing during the final over of the powerplay by Henry. The Zimbabwean skipper played all over, a ball which zipped in quite sharply and was pinned in front for a single-digit score. The hosts had lost half their side by the eighth over after Bracewell snaffled a superb return catch to send Ryan Burl (5 off 5) back to the shed.

The first couple of sixes of Zimbabwe's faltering innings came off the bat of Tony Munyonga, who struck Santner for consecutive maximums. However, he could not get to his maiden T20I fifty as he fell to Sodhi in the bowler's final over. He ended up with spectacular figures of 4/12 in four overs, his best in T20Is up until now. Munyonga's wicket was Sodhi's 150th in the format.

The innings came to a tame end as Zimbabwe could not even bat through their full quota of 20 overs. They ended up folding for 130 with an over to spare, losing their final four wickets in overs 16 to 19. Zakary Foulkes (1/14 in 3.5 overs), Will O’Rourke (1/19 in 3 overs), and Bracewell (1/16 in 2 overs) all ended with a wicket apiece.

The hosts will be packing their bags on move on to the five-day fixtures against the same side, whereas, the visiting Kiwi side will be facing the Proteas to fight for the ultimate silverware.