India women beat Zimbabwe women by four wickets in the first T20 international at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Friday, 16 October 2026, to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, according to The Tribune, Outlook and IANS. India reached 116 for 6 in 15.4 overs in reply to Zimbabwe’s 114 for 5.
Smriti Mandhana, in her first match as full-time T20I captain, won the toss and chose to field, according to the reports. Zimbabwe made 114 for 5 in their 20 overs, and the offspinner Nandni Sharma took 2 for 11, according to IANS. Tendai Makusha took 0 for 19 in the chase, according to the Cricinfo score line.
The chase began badly. Mandhana started with a couple of boundaries but her dismissal triggered a collapse that left India 19 for 4 in the fourth over, according to the match report. Nyasha Gwanzura removed Mandhana, Anushka Sharma and Shafali Verma in a spell of offspin, and Michelle Mavunga dismissed Harmanpreet Kaur, according to the same report.
The recovery came from the fifth-wicket stand between Deepti Sharma and the debutant Niki Prasad, according to The Tribune and Outlook. Niki Prasad finished on 39 not out and hit the winning boundary, and Arundhati Reddy was 2 not out at the end, according to Cricinfo. The reports reviewed do not give Deepti Sharma’s score or the size of the partnership.
The margin can be measured. India needed 115 to win and made 116, and they finished with 26 balls remaining, since 15.4 overs is 94 balls out of 120, counts by IndiaX24. Zimbabwe’s total of 114 for 5 was 5.7 runs an over, and India’s chase was 7.4 an over, calculations by IndiaX24.
The collapse was a reminder of how quickly the match could have changed. India lost four wickets for 19 runs in under four overs and still won with a comfortable margin in balls, which says as much about the size of the target as about the recovery. The batters who went early were all from the top order named in the squad, as IndiaX24 reported in its preview.
For Zimbabwe, the performance was creditable in a first meeting of the two sides in T20 internationals. Gwanzura’s spell of three early wickets showed what the home batters could face, though the reports reviewed do not describe the surface. Zimbabwe’s captain Josephine Nkomo’s contribution is not given in the sources.
Mandhana now has a win in her first match as full-time captain, after the 11 wins in her 18 previous matches in the role that IndiaX24 reported in its preview. The second T20I is on Sunday, 18 October, and the third on Tuesday, 20 October, both at the same ground at 7 pm.
The series has two matches left. If India win the second T20I on Sunday, 18 October, they will take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, which follows from the arithmetic of a best-of-three. The reports reviewed do not give the toss or team news for that match.
The reports reviewed do not name a player of the match. IndiaX24 will report the second T20I on Sunday.
Image: The Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur (file photo). Photo by VishuN, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.