Though Sanju Samson and Mukesh Kumar were the chief contributors in India’s 42-run win over Zimbabwe in the fifth and final game to win series 4-1, Shivam Dube’s contribution in all departments of the game got him the Player of the Match award. At the Harare Sports Club on Sunday, Dube played a handy cameo of 26 off 12 balls to take India’s total to an above-par 167/6. He then took two wickets with his tight medium-pace bowling, and even manufactured an important direct hit to get Sikandar Raza out, to shut the door on Zimbabwe’s chances of winning the game.

“It’s always a special thing to contribute in both departments. Took some wickets, very happy. In T20s, you can struggle but one shot and you can get back. The ground is big, we enjoy playing here, the atmosphere and the people are amazing,” said Dube after the match ended.

Off-spin all-rounder Washington Sundar played only two games in IPL 2024, but got to play all games in Zimbabwe. Some effective bowling from him got Washington the Player of the Series award.

“Good to have finished with a win. After the first game, the conditions were similar to South Africa getting that extra bounce and extra pace. We had enough time to get a lot of information. Lots of takeaways, lot of learnings, lot of confidence going into the Sri Lanka series. We had a lot of success as a team,” he said.

Shubman Gill, who got his first series win as India captain, was in praise of the fightback shown by his team after losing the opening game by 13 runs. “Excellent series. The hunger that we showed after the first loss was phenomenal to watch.”

“Lot of the players had long flights, they weren’t used to the conditions. The way we adapted was remarkable. I have been there (Sri Lanka) once for Asia Cup, looking forward to go there and performing (later this month).”

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