India vs Zimbabwe 2016: 5 feats achieved during India vs Zimbabwe 1st ODI

A young and dynamic team India started their limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe in an emphatic fashion. They won the first ODI by a huge margin of 9 wickets and are leading 1-0 in the series. The bowlers did the early damage and it proved to be a comfortable chase in the end for the batsmen. The series is all set up with youngsters roaring to make their mark in international Cricket and Zimbabwe looking to use their experience and produce an upset.

The first ODI was an eventful one where we saw many records being broken and many feats being achieved. Here are 5 of them:

#1 KL Rahul’s historic ODI century

After smashing a clinical test century in his debut series against Australia in 2014, Rahul has started his ODI career with a bang. He became the first Indian to score a century on ODI debut. Opening for India in the first ODI against Zimbabwe at Harare, Rahul made full use of the given opportunity and smashed an unbeaten 100 from 115 balls including 7 boundaries and a six.

He was watchful and selective in his shots and paced his innings beautifully. Scoring runs all around the ground, his off-side batting display was mesmerising. This can be inferred from the fact that he scored 63 runs on the off side. Leading the chase, he along with Rayudu scripted India’s 9 wicket win helping them gaining a lead of 1-0 in the on-going series.

#2 Rayudu completes 1000 ODI runs

Ambati Rayudu completed his 1000 ODI runs during the 1st ODI. He also became the 4th fastest Indian to achieve this feat. Only Shikhar Dhawan (24), Virat Kohli (24) and Navjot Singh Sidhu (25) have reached the 1000 run mark quicker than him while M.S. Dhoni also took 29 innings to reach the landmark.

Rayudu, who made his ODI debut 3 years ago, has played 32 ODI’s so far and averages 48.29 with 2 centuries to his name. He has been a regular feature of the ODI team for a past few years and has played many match-winning innings. Mostly being selected as a backup player, he surely deserves more opportunities to prove his skill and calibre.

#3 Bumrah’s best ODI figures

Jasprit Bumrah, who began his international career through the T-20 format, finally got a break in the ODI’s. He was an obvious choice for the selectors when they decided to send a young team for the tour. And he made it count. He registered his best ODI figures by taking 4 wickets for 28 runs in the match against Zimbabwe.

Playing just his 2nd ODI, Bumrah maintained a good line and length and gave no opportunity to the Zimbabwe batsman to open arms. He was bang on with his yorkers which helped him to keep the batsman in check and pick up wickets at crucial intervals.

The star Mumbai Indians bowler has been performing tremendously well for India in the last few months with stellar performances in the Asia Cup and T-20 World Cup 2016. Capable of leading India’s bowling attack in limited overs format, hopes will be high from Bumrah during the series.

#4 Debutants Opening for India

When India went out to bat against Zimbabwe, two debutants Karun Nair and KL Rahul opened the innings. It was not only a wonderful opportunity for the youngsters but also a step forward in Indian Cricket.

The incident occurred after something similar had happened 40 years ago in Indian Cricket. It was in the year 1976 when two debutants Parthasathi Sharma and Dilip Vengsarkar opened the innings for India in a match against New Zealand in Christchurch. The record which was held for 890 matches was finally broken yesterday. Though Nair couldn’t make the opportunity count and got out early, Rahul went on to create history and scored his maiden ODI century.

#5 Elton Chigumbura’s 200th ODI

Elton Chigumbura, the star Zimbabwe Cricketer, played his 200th ODI match yesterday. He has scored a total of 4220 runs in 200 matches and averages 26.04. He also has 19 half centuries and 2 centuries to his record. However, his contribution to Zimbabwe Cricket is much more than what can be depicted from these statistics. He became the third player after Grant Flower and Andy Flower to reach the landmark. He has represented Zimbabwe in 197 ODI’s and Africa XI in 3 ODI’s while playing the Afro Asia Cup in 2007.