Afghan cricketer defeats Zimbabwe in T20 series match

South Africa's captain, Temba Bavuma, demonstrated outstanding play in the Test series match against Australia in Gqeberha. His record innings not only helped the team avoid early difficulties but also allowed him to surpass a significant record set by former Indian captain Rohit Sharma.

Temba Bavuma became the oldest captain in the history of the World Test Championship (WTC) to score a hundred. At the start of the match, Bavuma was 36 years and 154 days old. Previously, this record belonged to Rohit Sharma, who achieved this milestone in 2023 during a Test in Nagpur at the age of 35 years and 285 days.

The intensity of the game was extremely high: Bavuma spent more than nine hours on the field, highlighting his patience and determination. When the match began, South Africa's game was difficult, and the first batsmen fell quickly. However, captain Bavuma held his ground, countering the opposing bowling attacks, and played a brilliant innings of 179 runs off 338 balls.

Thanks to this resilient and brave play, South Africa managed a strong comeback in the match and built up an impressive total. In the first half of the match, Bavuma spent 547 minutes on the field, which is 9 hours and 7 minutes.

Bavuma received excellent support from his teammates: Marco Jansen scored an impressive 85 runs in an aggressive style, and Simon Harmer added 82 runs, demonstrating tactical acumen. Thanks to these big partnerships, South Africa managed to score a huge total of 425 runs in the first innings and declared their innings closed.

In response, the Australian team also faced problems. Star bowler Kagiso Rabada struck the first blow against the Australians early in the innings. As a result, South Africa took a very strong position in this contest.

The Indian women's cricket team secured a convincing victory over Zimbabwe in the third and final T20 series match, held at the Shahid Vir Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur. The win was achieved by a margin of 92 runs, allowing India to clinch the three-match series with a score of 3-0, concluding it with a brilliant triumph.

Having chosen to bat first after the toss, the Indian team demonstrated a strong start. Opener Shafali Verma and Anushka Sharma provided the team with a quick start. Anushka scored 28 runs off 20 balls, while Shafali Verma delivered an explosive performance, accumulating 69 runs from just 37 balls, including 6 fours and 5 sixes.

Thanks to a magnificent partnership between Shafali and Harmanpreet Kaur, which yielded 84 runs, the pace of the game significantly accelerated. Following this, former captain Harmanpreet Kaur unleashed a barrage of fours and sixes. She played an incomplete but powerful innings, scoring 91 runs off 41 balls without being dismissed, featuring 10 fours and 5 towering sixes.

Due to this unbeaten innings, India managed to post a substantial total of 216 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. For Zimbabwe, Bilwad Bijje took the most wickets, claiming 3, but she was unable to halt the Indian batsmen.

Facing the challenge of chasing 217 runs, the Zimbabwean team started extremely poorly and gradually lost its wickets. Sharne Meyers fought hard, scoring 60 runs off 49 balls, and Bilwad Bijje contributed 44 runs. No other batsman on the team could withstand the Indian bowlers. Ultimately, Zimbabwe managed to score only 124 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs.

The Indian bowlers displayed an impressive performance. Nandini Sharma excelled as a bowler, taking 3 crucial wickets while conceding only 18 runs in 4 overs. Additionally, Kriyanti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Dipti Sharma, and Nikki Prasad each secured one wicket. Thus, the Indian team concluded the match with a 92-run margin, brilliantly ending the series.

In the four T20 matches of the series between India and West Indies, which concluded on Wednesday (October 14) with India losing by 24 runs and the series tied at 2-2, the fifth and decisive match will take place in Bangalore on Saturday (October 17). This match will determine the winner of the series.

However, throughout the first four encounters of this T20 series between India and West Indies, Vaibha Suryavanshi was not in the starting lineup, although he was often present with the team during water breaks. This raised several questions regarding the reasons for his absence from the squad. He is likely to be on the bench again in the fifth T20 in Bangalore.

Vaibha's international career began on July 4, 2026, in Manchester against England in a T20, although he had previously participated in the tour of Ireland but did not receive playing time. To date, Vaibha has played 8 T20 matches, scoring 246 runs at an average of 30.75.

However, one statistic emerged: under Gautam Gambhir's leadership, Vaibha was given less playing time than when VVS Laxman served as the head coach of the Indian team.

Vaibha was first selected for the tour of Ireland, where two matches were held, both lost by the Indian team, but he did not play. His debut occurred in the second match of the five-match series on the tour of England. England won this series 4-0, and the first T20 in Chester-Le-Street was a draw.

During the tour of England, Vaibha played in three T20 matches in Manchester, Nottingham, and Bristol, scoring 42 runs at an average of 14. His strike rate was 168.

Next followed the tour of Zimbabwe, where Sandeep Samson was not part of the squad. Consequently, Vaibha was given the opportunity to start alongside Abhishek Sharma. In this series, Vaibha made a splash, becoming the 'Player of the Series' and scoring 151 runs in three matches at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 196.10. It is worth noting that for this tour in July 202, former Indian player VVS Laxman was appointed as the head coach of the Indian team.

This was followed by a three-match T20 series at home against Afghanistan, in which Vaibha Suryavanshi did not participate in any match. Then came a T20 international match against Japan, where Vaibha also did not play, and VVS Laxman was the head coach then.

Subsequently, the Asian Games 2026 took place, where the quarter-final against Afghanistan was cancelled. After this, India defeated Sri Lanka and then Pakistan in the semi-finals and final, winning the gold medal. Against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Vaibha played, scoring 38 and 15 runs respectively.

Thus, since Vaibha was included in the Indian squad, the team has played 21 matches. Gautam Gambhir acted as coach in 14 matches, while VVS Laxman coached in 7 matches. Including the T20 in Bangalore on Saturday, the total number of T20s in which Vaibha will be in the squad will reach 22.