Just like the first match, India with their second string team once again dominated the match against the depleted Zimbabwe side and with that also clinched the series with one match to spare. With this series win MS Dhoni also managed to break his ODI series losing streak since October 2014
After winning the toss, the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni invited the home team to bat first in the very cold and overcast conditions of Harare, Zimbabwe just like the first match struggled from the very beginning of the match. Zimbabwean openers Chamu Chibhabha and Hamilton Masakadza were clueless against the Indian new ball duo of Barinder Sran and Dhawal Kulkarni. Zimbabwe lost their first wicket very early as Barinder Sran got rid of Hamilton Masakadza. Sran, in his very next over got a bit of luck as Peter Moor was given Leg Before Wicket (LBW) by umpire (Ian Gould) which was actually going down leg. On the other side, Chamu Chibhabha who is looking good with the bat could not contribute further to his side as Dhawal Kulkarni trapped him in front when he was 21. After the early damage being done, Sikandar Raza and Vusi Sibanda added 67 runs for the 4th wicket and this was turning out to be a good partnership as Zimbabwe were looking good to post the total of above 240 on the board. But suddenly Zimbabwe fell down from 106/3 to 126 all out like pack of cards. Sikandar Raza tried to heave Yuzvendra Chahal for a six could only find Kedar Jadhav at deep mid on and from where the collapse began. Soon after, Chahal got rid of Vusi Sibanda who was trying to play against the spin. Sean Williams couldn’t bat as he injured his finger just after the toss and went for the scan. So India had to take 9 wickets instead of 10 which they successfully did in 34.3 overs. After this horrible batting performance in the second successive match, Zimbabwe could only manage to post 126 runs on the board.
India began their chase with a solid start as both the openers added 58 runs for the 1st wicket. Century scorer in the first match KL Rahul, chopped on a delivery from Chibhabha when he was on 33. After KL Rahul got out, Ambati Rayudu took the responsibility and added 67 runs for the second wicket with Karun Nair and almost seal the deal for India but just before the winning runs to be hit, Zimbabwe delayed the inevitable for a bit as Karun Nair was trapped in front of the wicket by Sikandar Raza. But it was too little too late for Zimbabwe as India had almost won the match. After Karun Nair got out, Manish Pandey came to the crease for the first time in this series and completed the formality with a boundary through the covers. India won the match comfortably by 8 wickets. Yuzvendra Chahal was adjudged Man Of The Match for his outstanding spell of (6-2-25-3).
Brief Scores: Zimbabwe: 126 all out in 34.3 overs (Vusi Sibanda 53 off 69 balls; Yuzvendra Chahal 3/25) lost to India: 129/2 from 26.5 overs (Ambati Rayudu 41* off 44 balls, Karun Nair 39 off 68 balls, Chamu Chibhabha 1/31) by 8 wickets.