The India National Cricket Team vs Zimbabwe National Cricket Team timeline comprises the matches between both teams in all formats. Ind vs Zim saw some nail-biters as well as one-sided games. Well, both teams faced off in the 1983 World Cup on June 11 and over the years both teams’ rivalry became more stronger and interesting with the promising talents contributed in the games from bat, ball, and field as well. As cricket has become more popular from time to time, the matches between India and Zimbabwe also got filled with tense and nail-biting situations.
In this blog we will let you know more about the India vs Zimbabwe matches in all three formats of Cricket, with the individual player record and his contribution towards his nation.
The First Face-off (1980’s-1990’s)
1983 – The first encounter took place in Leicester ( England) where both teams clashed for the first time in the 1983 World Cup. Zimbabwe batting first scored 155/10 and by batting second India won the match comfortably with 5 wickets in hand, led by the half-centuries from Sandeep Patil and Man of the Match Madan Lal. Again both teams met where India had their chips down playing first on the green turf and lost 5 early wickets at 1, after India elected to Bat first, Thanks to the match-winning knock from skipper Kapil Dev 175* who bailed out India from the early collapse.
1992 – Zimbabwe made its test debut against India in 1992, which was played in Harare, Zimbabwe. The match result didn’t come in either team’s way because it ended in a draw match but still, it gave a solid start for the Zimbabwe team in the longest format.
1997 – The 1997 year proved to be a productive year for the Zimbabwe National Cricket Team vs India National Cricket Team Timeline because Zimbabwe won their first ODI match against India during the Pepsi Triangular Series in South Africa.
The Awakening of Zimbabwean Cricket (1998- 2000)
1998 – The 1998 -1999 test series was going on between India and Zimbabwe where Zimbabwe showed their brilliant display and won their first test match against Men in Blue on home soil by scoring 293 in their second innings and on the other side India couldn’t handle the swing of the Zimbabwe pacer and get all out on 193, which lead the match in the Zimbabwe side by 61 runs.
2000 – Again the test match was held between the fan’s favorite teams India national cricket team vs Zimbabwe national cricket team Timeline, which took place in November 2000-01. Two-test match series was hosted by India and the first test match went in the hands of Men in Blue, where Rahul Dravid scored 200 not out in the 1st innings and match-winning bowling figures by Javagal Srinath who took 5 wickets haul in both innings and adjudged the man of the match. Later, India won the match by 7 wickets.
Zimbabwe Best Phase ( 2001 – 2003 )
2001 – During this year Zimbabwe showed its full potential and gave a tough fight to strong teams having won its first ODI match in India at Rajkot by 1 wicket, this match was a nail-biting finish by the Zimbabwe team because batting first India scored 283 runs with a marvelous century (146) of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar and on the other side at the second last ball Zimbabwe won the match by hustle and tussle to register their first win in India.
2003 – India faced Zimbabwe several times and Zimbabwe showed their resilience no matter who wins the match but it always finished in a close encounter between them.
Dominance By India ( 2005 – 2010 )
2005 – India started again showing their dominance towards Zimbabwe by winning the series with clean sweeps whether it is Test or ODI. During the test of 2005, India went to Zimbabwe to play the two test series match in which both tests were won by Men in Blue. The first test match was an easy win for the Indian Team where India won by an innings and 90 runs, Man of the match (MOM) was Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who produced an exhibition of swing bowling and useful contributions with bat.
2005 – The tri-series held between India, New Zealand & Zimbabwe, where in the 3rd match India bowled out Zimbabwe on 65 thanks to the swing exhibition of Pathan with figures of 5/27.
India Winning Streak ( 2010 – 2020 )
2010 – In 2010 the first T20 match took place between both teams where India again showed their impact and won the 2 T20 games with a clean sweep.
2015 – Again India in the Zimbabwe T20 series took place and this time Zimbabwe registered their first win and leveled up the series 1-1.
2016 – This time in the year 2016 India again visited Zimbabwe for the 3 T20 match series where new talents have shown their abilities and talent like Indian pacer Barindra Saran who took 4/10 with an impressive spell and also won the man of the match.
Last But Not The Least ( 2020 – 2024 )
2022 – The ODI series took place on the soil of Zimbabwe where the India National Cricket Team vs Zimbabwe National Cricket Team Timeline, faced off each other in 3 match ODI series, where India won the series by doing a clean sweep of Zimbabwe.
2024 – The India youth team left for the Zimbabwe tour for the 5 T20 match series, where in the first match Zimbabwe showed surprising play and won the match by 13 runs but still the series was captured by Men in Blue by 4-1.
Whereas India National Cricket Team vs Zimbabwe National Cricket Team Timeline, began off as a competitive Team against India early a long time ago, especially with their eminent Test and ODI triumphs, India’s cricketing ability has taken over, particularly since the 2000s. India remained unbeaten in Tests since 2001 and has been overwhelming in ODIs and T20Is, reliably winning reciprocal arrangements over all groups in later a long time.
Also Read: IND vs NZ Head to Head in T20
