India defeated Zimbabwe by five wickets in the second match of the ongoing three-match ODI series. With this victory, the men in blue have clinched the series with a game to spare.
Chasing a meagre target of 162, KL Rahul’s men were always likely to get over the line without much of a hassle, but they did encounter a few problems in this match. Promoting himself up the order, the skipper could not play a significant role in his team’s triumph as he was dismissed for only one run.
Ishan Kishan also had a short stay at the crease, scoring only six runs from 13 deliveries. However, the two stars from the first ODI, Shikhar Dhawan and Shubham Gill looked in good touch today as well, with both of them scoring 33 runs each.
Following their dismissals, it was the turn of Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson to prove why they deserve a place in the Indian ODI team, and both did a fairly decent job in that aspect. While Hooda scored 25 runs from 36 deliveries, Samson remained unbeaten on 43 runs off 39 deliveries.
Indian Bowlers Make Light Work of the Chevrons
Earlier in the day, the Indian bowlers bettered their last match’s performance as they bowled out the Chevrons for only 161 runs.
Like the first match of the series, skipper KL Rahul opted to bowl first after winning the toss and it proved to be the right decision. India got off to a good start, with Mohammed Siraj dismissing Takudzwanashe Kaitano in the ninth over, and then Shardul Thakur sending both Innocent Kaia and skipper Regis Chakabva back to the pavilion only a couple of overs later.
Prasidh Krishna was the third pacer from the Indian team to join the act, as the fourth delivery of the 13th over saw him dismiss Wessly Madhevere.
At 31/4, it seemed Zimbabwe were heading towards what could have been a humiliating total, but veterans Sikandar Raza and Sean Williams proved why experience is rated so highly in this sport.
They added 41 runs for the fifth-wicket stand, while after Raza’s dismissal in the 21st over, Ryan Burl also did a decent job to take Zimbabwe’s score past the 100-run mark.
However, barring those here, none of David Houghton’s batters managed to put up a fight against the Indian bowlers. A couple of run-outs and wickets from Shardul and Axar Patel saw Zimbabwe’s innings being wrapped up with only 161 runs on the scoreboard.
From the Indian perspective, the decision to give Shardul Thakur an opportunity in this game turned out to be a masterstroke, as he scalped three crucial wickets. Besides that, the team management will also be satisfied with the fact that none of the bowlers returned empty-handed.
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