June 4, 2010

Zimbabwe stuns India once again

India played Zimbabwe 4th ODI of the tri-series at Harare Sports Club, Harare. Previously, Zimbabwe had won the match against Indians in the 1st ODI by 7 wickets. It was repay day for the mighty Indians. Zimbabwe won the toss & put the Indians to bat first.

As usual, Dinesh Karthik & Murali Vijay opened the innings for India. They both batted at a slower rate, but failed to make it big. Dinesh Karthik was out scoring just 33 runs from 47 deliveries which looked OK for me, but Murali Vijay scored only 21 runs from 56 deliveries. According to me, this was a worst performance given by any other opener from India. After this loss, no one sustained for longer time, even the biggies, Suresh Raina & Rohit Sharma both got run out. Only Ravindra Jadeja played nicely & scored a half-century. In 50 overs, India had put just 194 runs total loosing 9 wickets. Andy Blignaut was the successful bowler for Zimbabwe with the economy of just 2.2 runs per over & took a wicket. Apart from him, all other bowlers also bowled well & economy was less than 4.5 runs per over.

Zimbabwe needed just 195 runs in 50 overs, this was supposed to be a cake walk for them. Hamilton Masakadza & Brendan Taylor played magnificently & scored 66 & 74 runs respectively. Zimbabwe's first wicket partnership was 128 runs, which really helped them a lot. Zimbabwe reached their target in just 38.2 overs thereby winning the match by 7 wickets. This was another stunning performance shown the Zimbabwe team. Now Zimbabwe looks comfortable as they have almost made their entry to the finals. Next match will be between India & Srilanka, let's see what happens there.

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