Harare: India thrashed Zimbabwe by five wickets in the second one-day match on Saturday to register 2nd in the three-match series, led by comeback pacer Shardul Thakur. Made a winning lead of 0. Bowling first after winning the toss, India bowled out the hosts for 161 runs. In reply, India lost five wickets in pursuit of a more or less easy target.
Captain KL Rahul opened the innings with Shikhar Dhawan for batting practice ahead of the Asia Cup starting next week but was dismissed leg-before by Victor Nyuchi in the second over after scoring a five-ball one. Dhawan and Shubman Gill added 42 runs for the second wicket. Tanaka Chiwanga, who led India to a ten-wicket win in the first ODI, was broken in the seventh over by Dhawan being caught by Innocent Kaiya.
After this, Luke Jongwe gave India two blows in the 12th and 14th overs by sending Ishan Kishan (six) and Gill (33) to the pavilion respectively. Deepak Hooda (25) and Sanju Samson (43 not out) eased the win by sharing a 56-run stand. Hooda fell victim to Sikandar Raza when India needed nine runs. Samson took the winning run by hitting Kaiya for a six. Earlier, Thakur, who made it to the team in the absence of Deepak Chahar, gave double blows to Zimbabwe in the 12th over. He took three wickets for 38 runs in seven overs.
For Zimbabwe, Sean Williams scored 42 runs in 42 balls with the help of one six and three fours. At the time of his arrival at the crease, the host’s score was 31 for four in the 13th over. Irregular off-spinner Deepak Hooda dismissed Williams, who was caught by Shikhar Dhawan at deep square leg. Ryan Burle scored 39 runs in 47 balls with the help of three fours and a six but there were no batsmen left to support him at the other end.
Zimbabwe lost the last three wickets in eight balls with Victor Nyuchi and Tanaka Chiwanga being run out. Zimbabwe’s score would have been lower had it not been for the disappointing performance by the Indian fielders. Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson took a tough catch and missed a stumping opportunity off Axar Patel. On the other hand, Kuldeep Yadav left an easy catch on his own ball.
Mohammad Siraj took one wicket for 16 runs in eight overs while bowling economically while famous Krishna took 6. Took one wicket for 28 runs in 1 over. The Indian bowlers performed well on the bouncy Harare SC pitch. In the first three overs, the host batsman could only score one run. Siraj got the first breakthrough in the eighth over. Thakur and Krishna then took wickets. Kuldeep broke the 40-run partnership between Sikandar Raza and Williams. Raza caught Ishan Kishan off his ball.
