An unbeaten century from debutant opener Lokesh Rahul steered India to an easy nine-wicket victory over hosts Zimbabwe in the first one-day worldwide on Saturday.
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For the hosts, none of the bowlers could trouble the Indian batsmen as all-rounders Chamu Chibhabha and Sikandar Raza managed to take one wicket apiece. He starred in a 58-run partnership with Karun Nair (39 off 68 balls) for the opening stand while the Rayudu-Nair pair added 67 runs for the second wicket.
Fans who watch the India vs. Zimbabwe cricket match live online will see if the Men in Blue can continue the strong play from the first match.
Put into bat, Zimbabwe have been bowled out for 126 in the 2 ODI versus India in Harare. “I wanted to hold my shape and just hit it”, said Rahul when asked about his mindset with the team needing two runs for victory and he being six runs short for a century.
But it was Rahul who stole the show with an excellent innings, which he capped off with a six to bring up his ton and seal a dominant victory as he finished unbeaten on 100. Jaydev Unadkat, on the other hand, played just one match in the IPL 2016 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), but he has had an excellent domestic season for Saurashtra and could make his T20I debut in the series. Despite Rahul’s dismissal, Nair and Ambati Rayudu continued to work the ball around for easy runs to steer the run-chase. The Karnataka lad, who already has two Test hundreds against Australia and Sri Lanka respectively, hit some attractive cover drives as well as square cuts off both seamers and spinners.
Zimbabwe take India in the second One-Day International (ODI) at the Harare Sports Club, Harare on Monday. The batsman decided on occupying the crease rather than scoring runs, an idea which eventually hurt them as they were under pressure from Indian bowlers.
India 173 for 1 (Rahul 100*, Rayudu 62*) beat Zimbabwe 168 (Chigumbura 41, Bumrah 4-28) by nine wickets.
Zimbabwe slid further, losing Richmond Mutumbami (2) and Tendai Chatara (2) in successive overs. Zimbabwe, meanwhile, must regroup fast if it is to have a chance of winning a ODI series against a Full International Cricket Council Member for the first time since 2013. Then, in the very next ball, E Chigumbura completely misjudged the line of Chahal’s delivery and got out LBW for zero. The left-arm pacer, however, did not have to wait long for a wicket as he caught opener Peter Moor in front of the stumps with another inswinger.
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The hosts had lost half their side after Axar Patel sent back seasoned batsman Craig Ervine, leaving Zimbabwe reeling at 77 for five in 24 overs.
