With the tour providing a perfect platform for youngsters to experience international cricket, India handed over ODI debuts to Yuzvendra Chahal, KL Rahul and Karun Nair. Skipper MS Dhoni called correctly and decided to make first use of the early morning moisture.
His bowling attack responded to his idea and carved away at the Zimbabwe top-order. Apart from Elton Chigumbura, none of the other batsmen could make a substantial contribution to the team total. On the other hand, Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the Indian bowlers with his timely strikes while the spinners sustained the pressure admirably.
Chasing only 169, the visitors started off in a sedate manner as both openers wanted to get themselves settled before expanding their repertoire. Once Nair departed, Rahul got into his groove with a maiden ODI ton and ensured that India cruised towards the target to take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.
Let us take a look at the most interesting statistics from the contest.
1 – Number of Indian opening batsmen who have scored a half-century on debut in ODIs before Rahul. Robin Uthappa had registered 86 against England at Indore in 2006.
1 – Rahul eclipsed that knock from Uthappa to become the highest Indian run-scorer on debut in with an unbeaten hundred.
1 – The stylish right-hander was also the first cricketer to reach three figures during his maiden innings as an opener in both Tests and ODIs.
2 – International matches played by Dhoni in Zimbabwe against the home team, before this one. Both of those were ODIs as well and came under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy in 2005.
2 – Bumrah‘s 4/28 made it only the second occasion when an Indian bowler scalped four or more wickets on debut versus Zimbabwe in ODIs. Manoj Prabhakar recorded 4/19 against the African nation at the Wankhede in 1987.
3 – Rahul became the third Indian batsman to post a fifty-plus score on debut in all ODIs since 2009. Interestingly, Ambati Rayudu (2013) and Manish Pandey (2015) too had managed the feat against Zimbabwe in Harare.
29 – Innings taken by Rayudu to complete 1000 ODI runs. Only Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (both 24) and Navjot Singh Sidhu (25) had reached the landmark faster than him for India. Dhoni too attained the four-figure mark in his 29th innings.
40 – Years after which India fielded uncapped openers in ODIs. Rahul and Nair followed in the footsteps of Parthasarthi Sharma and Dilip Vengsarkar who debuted together in 1976 during the Christchurch ODI against New Zealand.
46 – Dot balls faced by the Zimbabwe batsmen in the first ten overs. Chamu Chibhabha handled most of the strike and could only manage a 42-ball 13 in the end.
53 – Runs conceded by Chahal and Axar Patel from their combined quota of 20 overs. It was the ninth most economical effort among all spinners in ODIs provided that both bowlers completed their full tally of overs.
83 – Cumulative ODIs between all members of the playing eleven aside from Dhoni. In contrast, the Indian captain had 275 caps to his name which made it the highest such difference in ODI history.
91 – Runs given away by the Indian bowlers from the first 30 overs which was their most economical performance in ODIs after ten years.
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