Zimbabwe vs India 2013: India go 2-0 up with 58 run win

Shikhar Dhawan celebrates after scoring a century

Shikhar Dhawan’s third one day international century helped India defeat Zimbabwe by 58 runs in the second ODI of the bilateral series held at Harare in Zimbawe.

Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor won the toss and as expected, opted to bowl on a track that was expected to ease out after the first hour. India played an unchanged side while Zimbabwe brought in left arm fast bowler Brian Vitori for Tinotenda Mutombodzi.

Vitori, making complete use of the conditions, dismissed both Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu cheaply. Kyle Jarvis accounted for the Indian captain Virat Kohli albeit controversially, as the ball appeared to have bounced before it reached Malcolm Waller at midwicket. Suresh Raina‘s poor form continued as he was dismissed for four runs, nicking one down the leg side.

Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik combined together for the fifth wicket to take India from 65/4 in 16.4 overs to 232/5 in 42.2 overs. India, helped by Vinay Kumar’s late blitz of 27* from only 12 deliveries, managed to score 294 in their 50 overs. Dhawan, having been dismissed of a no-ball and dropped twice, top scored with 116 of 127 balls and was ably supported by Karthik’s 69 of 74 deliveries.

Zimbabwean openers Vusi Sibanda and Sikandar Raza started the chase in a steady fashion scoring 44 for no loss in 10 overs. However, both Raza and Sibanda, who scored a stroke filled 55 of 65 balls, fell to Jaydev Unadkat.

From 109-2 in 20.1 overs, it all went downhill for the home team as the spin duo of Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja dented the middle order taking three wickets between them. Prosper Utseya and Elton Chigumbura showed some resistance but could only delay the inevitable, as Zimbabwe lost the match by 58 runs. Unadkat was the pick of the bowlers for India, picking up 4 wickets to reduce Zimbabwe to 236/9 in 50 overs.