India 138 for 6 (Jadhav 58, Tiripano 3-20) beat Zimbabwe 135 for 6 (Sibanda 28, Moor 26, Kulkarni 2-23) by three runs

Zimbabwe batsman, Timycen Maruma has shouldered the blame for Zimbabwe’s spirited loss in the third and final T20I against India at Harare Sports Club yesterday.

"When I hit that six, that's when I started to believe that we could do it. Unfortunately those two balls that I missed thereafter were where we lost the game. But it was a good challenge and a good game," said Maruma.

The Chevron’s quest for a rare series win over India came down to the last ball but in the end it was a painful loss for the hosts as they suffered a three run loss in the third and final T20I series at Harare Sports Club yesterday.

Needing 21 off the last over, a spirited Zimbabwe came four runs shot in an over seamer Barinder Sran looked nervy as Zimbabwe all-rounder Elton Chigumbura forced him to err.

Winning the toss Zimbabwe asked India to bat – and this was the first time in the six games of this tour that  Zimbabwe were chasing – India posting a gettable 138 after losing six wickets.

Maruma hit Sran for a maximum then a four, with the second boundary coming off a no-ball but the next three deliveries went for a single leaving Chigumbura needing eight from the final two balls.

With the first, Chigumbura got a four and this meant Zimbabwe needed another boundary to win the series but that proved too much to ask leaving Zimbabwe on 135-6.

India’s chase was kept alive by Kedar Jadhav’s maiden better than a-run-a-ball half century (58 off 42) and it had to take the effort of Donald Tiripano to remove him at the death to finish with figures of 3-30 in his four.

Tiripano also accounted for MS Dhoni at the death but the Indian captain was impressed with the way his young side acquitted themselves during the tour having grabbed the ODI series with a 3-0 whitewash.

"The fast bowling department is somewhere that we need a good pool of players, and now we can say that we have 10 to 12 such bowlers for the limited overs formats," Dhoni said.

India coach Sanjay Bangar though the wicket was not one for high scoring games.

"The wicket was dry and the ball was keeping a bit low so run-making wasn't that easy, so credit to Rayudu and Kedar for the way they consolidated the innings. I thought 138 was a good score on that wicket and our bowlers would be able to defend that," said Bangar.