Zimbabwe humiliate India in ODI

Zimbabwe defeated India by seven wickets in the fourth one-dayer of the tri-nation cricket series played at the Harare Sports Club.

The worst fears of Indian cricket lover’s came to pass when lowly Zimbabwe defeated India by a huge margin,again.

Zimbabwe defeated India by seven wickets in the fourth one-dayer of the tri-nation cricket series played at the Harare Sports Club here on Thursday.

Brief score:

India: 194 for 9 in 50 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 51,Dinesh Karthik 33; Greg Lamb 3/45).

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Zimbabwe: 197 for three in 38.2 overs (Brendon Taylor 74,Hamilton Masakadza 66; Ravindra Jadeja 2/27).

Team India Innings

In yet another instance of underperforming against minnows Zimbabwe,the much vaunted Indian cricket team cut a sorry figure as it was reduced to five down without even getting into three figures at one stage in the game at the Harare Sports Club.

While the Indians fought back to be 189 for 8 in 49 overs,there was no hiding the fact that the team had again left itself vulnerable to a loss against a team that is not considered as competition by any frontline team in the world.

It was also clear that they would leave Zimbabwe a very gettable target to chase. And that is what actually happened as they ended up with a score of just 194/9 in 50 overs.

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While,arguably,it could be said this is an under-strength Indian team,yet it is being led by Suresh Raina who has been at the forefront of most Indian teams for a number of years and is backed up by,on paper at least,an excellent batting and bowling combo.

The Zimbabwean spinners had triggered the collapse with a tight bowling line and length,which was again backed up by excellent fielding that ensured the Indian scoreboard remained moribund.

In the beginning though,both Dinesh Karthik and M Vinay threatened to pulverise the Zimbabweans. But once the first wicket fell at 58,the floodgates had been opened,with the arrival and departure of the much-vaunted Indian batsmen continuing without let,with Kohli,Sharma,or for that matter,Karthik and Vjay not being able to hunker down for a long innings despite getting a good start.

Suresh Raina scored a meagre 3 runs,being run out by Blignaut.

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It was left to Yousuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja to save face for India.

However,they could count themselves as lucky as the umpires failed to give them out on a number of occasions despite the ball pitching in line and going on to hit the stumps,if their pads were not in the way.

For India Jadeja scored a patient 51,while Karthik made 33 and Vijay 21. Dinda scored a fine 17 off 16 deliveries to ensure India get near 200.

The man of the moment for the Africans was Andy Blignaut who took one wicket for 22 runs of 10 overs,while Lamb took 3 wickets for 45 runs.

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Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura won the toss and elected to bowl against India in their tri-series ODI cricket match here on Thursday.

Zimbabwe made one change to the side that lost to Sri Lanka in their previous match,bringing in Tatenda Taibu in place of Chris Mpofu.

Teams:

Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (c),Hasan Masakadza,Brendan Taylor,Tatenda Taibu,Greg Lamb,Craig Ervine,Charles Coventry,Andy Blignaut,Graeme Cremer,Prosper Utseya,Ray Price

India: Suresh Raina (c),Murali Vijay,Dinesh Karthik,Virat Kohli,Rohit Sharma,Yusuf Pathan,Ravindra Jadeja,Amit Mishra,Ashok Dinda,Pragyan Ojha,Umesh Yadav.