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Zimbabwe have defeated India by 2 runs. You read it right. After being whitewashed in the ODI series 3-0 by India, Zimbabwe were always going to find it hard to come back from that but they came back and gave a brilliant performance. After a brilliant innings from Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwe looked high on confidence and that was shown on the field.
Match Highlights:
Zimbabwe Innings:
MS Dhoni had put the Zimbabweans to bat first and they looked like a team with a plan. Openers Chibhabha and Masakadza got them off to a reasonable start before Jasprit Bumrah surprised Masakadza with a slower delivery.
Richmond Mutumbami was retired hurt after getting hit on the hip by Jaydev Unadkat after facing just 4 deliveries and that left Zimbabwe in a pickle as Chibhabha fell soon after with 50 runs on the board. Just when the Indian bowlers were getting things under control, Sikandar Raza and Malcolm Waller steadied the ship gathering 47 runs between them and setting the platform for Zimbabwe to reach a respectable total.
Chigumbura’s electrifying knock:
When a target of 140 seemed like a good total for the Zimbabweans to reach, Chigumbura cut loose and smashed the Indian bowlers to all sides of the ground that included a boundary and 7 humongous sixes. Rishi Dhawan, Unadkat and Yuzvendra Chahal were blown away by Chigumbura’s batting storm.
59 runs came off the last 5 overs of the Zimbabwean innings that lifted them to a total of 170 for the loss of 6 wickets.
The Indian Chase:
Man of the series for the ODIs, KL Rahul was sent packing for a golden duck on his International T20 debut after being bamboozled by Tiripano. Youngster Mandeep Singh and Ambati Rayudu managed to put up a stand of 44 runs in the powerplay period before the latter threw his wicket away, getting bowled by Chibhabha.
Mandeep Singh looked in good touch but he also perished to Chibhabha’s tight bowling as Mutombodzi took an amazing catch. Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni took the fight to the Zimbabweans with their 5th wicket partnership of 50 runs in just 27 deliveries.
The Indians looked in control with 3 overs remaining when Pandey lost his wicket, leaving Dhoni along with Axar Patel to get their side to victory. Axar’s 18 from just 9 balls helped the Indians to get closer to the target requiring 8 runs of the last over. Madziva’s brilliant last over restricted the Indians to 168, helping Zimbabwe to achieve a victory in the first T20 of this series.
Best twitter reactions:
RCB’s praise for Mandeep Singh
A well deserved victory
Something to think about...
A light-hearted moment
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