Teenager Sooryavanshi blasts 50 off 18 as India cruises past Zimbabwe in T20

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — 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.

Sooryavanshi scored 50 off 18 balls. He was out next ball at 68-2, top-edging an attempted cut at Richard Ngarava.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The second of three matches is on Saturday.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket