Zimbabwe vs India 2013: Amit Mishra helps India complete a clean sweep

Leg spinner Amit Mishra’s six wicket haul helped India win the fifth and final match of the ODI series by seven wickets at Bulawayo in Zimbabwe.

Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to field. Shikhar Dhawan replaced Rohit Sharma while Ajinkya Rahane, playing ahead of Ambati Rayudu, got his first chance of the series while for Zimbabwe Prosper Utseya, Sikandar Raza, Michael Chinouya and Tendai Chatara made way for Kyle Jarvis, Timycen Maruma, Natsai M’shangwe and Tinotenda Mutombodzi.

Despite the home team making wholesale changes to the squad, the script was not much different from the rest of the series. Zimbabwe top order failed yet again. One of the middle order batsman, this time it was Sean Williams, combined with Elton Chigumbura, who has been the best batsman for the home team in this series, to launch a mini comeback.

They put together 50 runs for the 6th wicket to take Zimbabwe to 122/5 in 33 overs. But, they failed to build anything substantial as Mishra ran through the batting line up, picking up six wickets for 48 runs in 8.5 overs, to restrict Zimbabwe to 163 all out in 39.5 overs.

India were dealt with a early blow in their chase when a Kyle Jarvis in-swinger got rid of Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck in the very first over of the innings. Dhawan though, started off in an aggressive fashion, scoring 41 of the 54 runs in 10.3 overs, but failed to make it count as Jarvis picked up his second wicket.

However, Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja, in at number 4, ensured an easy victory for India by combining to score 71 of 16.5 overs before the former was dismissed soon after getting to his fifty. India won the match in 34 overs as Jadeja (48 off 77) and Dinesh Karthik (10 of 19) remained not out at the crease. Amit Mishra was declared the man of the match for his six wicket haul.