"Like a net session"- Fans hail Shubman Gill & Shikhar Dhawan as India crush Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in 1st ODI

Team India made an absolute mockery of their run-chase in the first ODI against Zimbabwe on Thursday (August 18), beating the hosts by 10 wickets.

Chasing just 190 runs, Shubman Gill (82*) and vice-captain Shikhar Dhawan (81*) continued from where they left off in the serie win against West Indies. They almost didn't break a sweat as they completed the run chase in just 30.5 overs.

Their strong unbeaten opening stand of 192 runs further justified the decision of captain KL Rahul to bat in the middle-order.

Zimbabwe needed early wickets to make a match out of the total that they had to defend. However, that wasn't to be as India coasted towards a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Fans on Twitter hailed the duo of Gill and Dhawan for yet another impressive opening stand. Here are some of the reactions:

---

Team India completed 13th consecutive win against Zimbabwe

KL Rahul won the toss at the Harare Sports Club and chose to bowl first. He had stated the importance of the bowlers to hit the right areas on the pitch that had moisture for them to work with.

Deepak Chahar obliged and bagged stunning figures of 3/27 on his comeback in the Indian team. Prasidh Krishna was also impressive, picking up three wickets of his own.

A ninth wicket partnership between Brad Evans and Richard Ngarava meant that Zimbabwe stretched their score to 189 before getting bowled out. While it looked like a fighting total, the visitors were almost flawless in their chase as they didn’t give any room for the hosts to sniff a fightback.

Shikhar Dhawan was once again dominant at the top of the order, and Shubman Gill gradually joined the veteran as runs began to flow from both ends. The match, which ended with almost 19 overs left, tells the manner of dominance that the Men in Blue managed over the hosts.

Zimbabwe certainly have some thinking to do, especially with their batting as they will need to post a bigger total to challenge this Indian team.

The second ODI will take place at the same venue on August 20.