ZIMBABWE vs INDIA 3rd ODI REVIEW :- INDIA COMPLETED THE HAT-TRICK OF WHITE-WASH IN ZIMBABWE
Just Like the first two ODIs in the series, India thoroughly dominated the third and final ODI of series against Zimbabwe in Harare Sports Club, Harare. The story of the third ODI was very similar to first two ODIs except toss which went this time in the favour of Zimbabwe. With this series win India completed the hat-trick of white-wash in One day International Cricket versus Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe and also MS Dhoni registered his first series victory as an ODI captain since October 2014.
After winning his first toss in the series, Zimbabwean captain Graeme Cremer opted to bat first on a bright and sunny day at Harare. Surprisingly, Zimbabwe had a slow but decent start as they lost only one wicket in the first 20 overs. Vusi Sibanda who scored a half century in the previous match and Chamu Chibhabha were looking good out there in the middle. Although Sibanda has been dropped by Yuzvendra Chahal in the 7th over, but Chahal did make it up for it later on by taking his wicket which trigger the collapse in the Zimbabwean innings as they lost 4 wickets in 4 balls and fell down like a deck of cards. Only three batsmen from Zimbabwe Chibhabha (27), Sibanda (38) and a number 9 batsman Madziva (10*) could reach the double figure mark. Jaspreet Bumrah bettered his career best figure in ODIs (9.5-2-28-4) to (10-1-22-4) in the space of 6 days. Eventually Zimbabwe got bowled out on 123 runs in 42.2 overs.
India started their run chase with a different opening pair from the first two ODIs. Debutant Faiz Fazal who got the chance to play in place of Karun Nair opened the inning with KL Rahul for India. Initially he took some time but after that he showed his class and took on the Zimbabwean bowlers and scored an unbeaten 55 off 61 in his debut ODI match. Both the openers of India rotated the strike and complimented each other very well. KL Rahul also scored an unbeaten half century (63* off 70) and was adjudged Player Of the Series for his 196 runs in the series. Ultimately India won the third and final ODI comfortably by 10 wickets. Jaspreet Bumrah was adjudged Man Of The Match for his outstanding spell of bowling (10-1-22-4), this was Bumrah’s second 4-for in the last 3 matches.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 123 all out in 42.2 overs ( Vusi Sibanda 38 off 71 balls, Chamu Chibhabha 27 off 66 balls; Jasprit Bumrah 4/22, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/25)
India 126/0 in 21.5 overs (KL Rahul 63* off 70 balls, Faiz Fazal 55* off 61 balls)