Team India have now finished back-to-back T20 World Cups (2024 and 2026) at the group stage, with their best-ever result remaining the runners-up finish in 2020, where they lost to Australia.

Reflecting on former skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's stunning 91 off 41 balls, Veda Krishnamurthy said that even though Harmanpreet is no longer captain, she remains a key batter for India and getting runs was crucial for her. Harmanpreet was visibly emotional and teary-eyed during her post-innings interview, and Veda noted that Harmanpreet is someone who wears her heart on her sleeve.

"I think that is exactly what is expected of her," Veda said of the knock. "Even though she's not the captain now, she's still a key batter India would want in the line-up, especially with the upcoming Champions Trophy in Indian conditions. Having the experience of someone like Harman is important, and she must get runs too. So it was good to see her back among the runs. There's a lot of passion when you play cricket, and passion also brings emotion. Some players have a tendency not to show it, but Harman has shown those emotions in the past as well, whether on the field or during interviews. She wears her heart on her sleeve, someone who probably expresses a lot more than other players. Sometimes you can't keep everything inside, and you feel good when you express yourself. Then you saw her on the field, smiling and laughing around. That's how Harman is."

On Shafali Verma's improved consistency after her quick-fire 69, Veda said consistency was always a talking point with the youngster, and that she probably has a decade or more of cricket left in her, during which she could smash plenty of records.

"Consistency was always discussed around Shafali, and the way she has come back, she is starting to show a lot more of it across formats. She got out when she had 991 calendar runs in T20Is this year. We were hoping she'd get to a thousand, and you see the list: Laura Wolvaardt is behind her in second place, and Smriti Mandhana is third. The top three will be playing against each other in December. That series is going to be a good one. She's just 22 but has been here a while; 2019 is when she made her debut. That's about seven years of international cricket, which is a lot of experience. I'm just looking at it and saying, probably another decade or even more of cricket is what we'll see from her, and the kind of records she's going to smash will be incredible to watch," she signed off.

Shafali is enjoying the run of her life in T20Is this year, with 991 runs in 27 innings at an average of 39.64 and a strike rate of almost 167, with a century and nine fifties, and a best score of 100*. She holds the record for most T20I runs by a woman in a calendar year and played several crucial knocks in India's Asia Cup and Asian Games title wins.

In the match itself, fifties from Harmanpreet (91 off 41 balls, with 10 fours and five sixes) and Shafali (69 off 37 balls, with six fours and five sixes) powered India to 216/7. Nandani Sharma (3/24) starred with the ball, restricting Zimbabwe to 124/7 despite knocks from Sharne Mayers (60 off 49 balls, with four boundaries and sixes) and Beloved Biza (44 off 50 balls, with five fours).

Former Indian cricketer Veda Krishnamurthy said Team India will face huge pressure to perform at the inaugural ICC Women's Champions Trophy next year, noting that the last two T20 World Cups have not gone in the Women in Blue's favour. India began their 'Smriti Mandhana era' by sealing a 3-0 series win over Zimbabwe, beating them by 92 runs in the third T20I at Raipur on Tuesday. India will be eyeing the ICC Women's Champions Trophy, to be held in T20I format at home next year. Speaking after the win, JioStar expert Veda said on 'Cricket Live': "You want to dominate when you're playing a series, and that's exactly what I think Team India as a whole has done. We talk about convincing victories, and the last two games were just that. In the first game, you'd say they were pushed, but eventually it was still a convincing victory. A strong finish is always important, and it's a good start to Smriti Mandhana's full-time captaincy career. You must play a certain brand of cricket. India have clearly shown that this is exactly how they want to play. It is good preparation going into the Champions Trophy. Three T20 games are done, with three more left before the big tournament. The last two T20 World Cups have not gone in India's favour. So there will be pressure on this Indian team to come out and perform well in the Champions Trophy."