HARARE, Zimbabwe — The 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hit his first international half-century for India as Zimbabwe was comfortably beaten by seven wickets in a Twenty20 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Sooryavanshi scored 50 off 18 balls. He was out next ball at 68-2, top-edging an attempted cut at Richard Ngarava.<\/p>\n
But the teenager had turned the chase of 126 into a doddle and Shreyas Iyer was in the middle at 126-3 to celebrate his first win as captain in eight T20s. Zimbabwe made 125-7 after Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav took two wickets each.<\/p>\n
Sooryavanshi replaced Sachin Tendulkar this month as the youngest player to represent India but his output in the T20 series in England was modest: 14, 13, 15 at a strike rate of 168. He was replaced for the last match and India lost the series 4-0.<\/p>\n
The selectors hoped Sooryavanshi would thrive in a low-key series at the same cricket ground where he blasted 175 off 80 balls against England in February in the final of the Under-19 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Sooryavanshi on Thursday took four balls to smash his first six over backward square. The other sixes cleared long-off, fine leg and long-on.<\/p>\n
The second of three matches is on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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