ZIM vs SL, Review | Raza and Evans' spells help Zimbabwe level series in Harare

Zimbabwe won the toss and chose to field first, hoping to make use of the slow and dry conditions at the Harare Sports Club. The decision turned out to be fruitful as Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans created havoc in the power play as Sri Lanka lost three quick wickets in the first five overs itself. Though there were some attractive shots from Kamil Mishara, his innings was short-lived as he was cleaned up in the last over of the power play for 20. Sri Lanka, in the end, were restricted to a score of 37/4 in the first six overs. The situation went from bad to worse as Lankans' hero from the last game, Kamindu Mendis, was dismissed for a duck by Chevrons' skipper Sikandar Raza. Dasun Shanaka and Lankan skipper Charith Asalanka tried to steady the innings in the middle overs, but the spinners continued to keep the brakes on the scoring rate. The struggles finally ended as Sean Williams dismissed Shanaka in the 13th over, and Raza added salt to the wounds by dismissing Asalanka and Dushmantha Chameera in the 14th over. With the Lions' score reading 66/8, it was a matter of time for the innings to come to an end. The final rites were done in the 18th over by Evans as Dushan Hemantha was run out on the first delivery by Tinotenda Maposa, and Maheesh Theekshana was caught at cover on the fourth delivery. With the last two batters being dismissed, the Lankan Lions were finally bowled out for 80, which is also their second-lowest total in T20Is.

The first three overs of the second innings belonged to the hosts as Tadiwanashe Marumani took the attack to the bowlers straight away. However, Dushmantha Chameera decided to fight back with the wickets of Marumani and Williams, and the Zimbabwe captain and restricted them to a score of 29/3 in the first six overs. Despite the terrible start to the chase, Brian Bennet and Ryan Burl slowly and steadily got the team closer to the target. Though the partnership of 26 came to an end in the 10th over as Bennet gave a simple catch back to Binura Fernando, the match was already in the Chevrons' grasp as they needed only 25 off the last 60 balls with the score at 56/4. In the end, the chase was completed in the 15th over with Burl remaining unbeaten on 20, and Tashinga Musekiwa finished the game with a couple of boundaries, which were included in his cameo of 21 off 14 deliveries. With this five-wicket win, Zimbabwe also levelled the series with one more game to go and kept their chances in the series alive.

Sikandar Raza was the player of the match as he led from the front with a beautiful spell of 3/11 in his full quota of four overs.