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Senior Sports Reporter
INDIA inched closer to achieving a clean sweep over Zimbabwe when they defeated the hosts by nine wickets in the fourth One-Day cricket match at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday.
Sent in to bat first, Zimbabwe were blown away for a scanty 144 runs in 42.4 overs with 50 runs not out from Elton Chigumbura being the most notable contribution. Unbeaten half centuries from Rohit Sharma (64) and Suresh Raina (65) led India to triumph with 115 deliveries to spare.
The win saw India take their series lead to 4-0 as they have won all the matches on their tour with one match remaining at the same venue tomorrow.
Losing the toss and sent in to bat first, Zimbabwe scored at a painfully slow rate of under three runs an over.
Vusumuzi Sibanda took 16 deliveries to finally open his account with a scrambled single off Mohammed Shami. Zimbabwe’s first boundary came in the fifth over from Raza.
With 16 runs on board, Zimbabwe lost their first wicket, Raza getting an outside edge off debutant pace bowler Mohit Sharma to be caught behind by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik to depart for seven runs. In the mandatory Powerplay which is the first 10 overs Zimbabwe scored 35 runs for the loss of one wicket.
Some hesitation from Hamilton Masakadza saw him run out by Ravindra Jadeja, a direct hit sending Masakadza on his way for 10 runs with Zimbabwe two down for 36 runs.
Left arm spinner Jadeja was introduced into the attack and with his fifth delivery, he trapped Zimbabwean captain Brendan Taylor leg before wicket for a nine ball duck.
Zimbabwe added just three runs to their total prior to falling to left arm seamer Jaidev Unadkat bowled him for a two zero. The carnage continued with Zimbabwe five down without adding any more runs when Sibanda was bowled by Jadeja for 24 runs.
It took a patient knock from Malcolm Waller and Elton Chigumbura to take Zimbabwe past the 100 run mark. The pair however scored at a pedestrian rate especially Waller.
Zimbabwe took their batting PowerPlay in the 36th over with the first over of those five over fielding restrictions yielding 11 runs.
Waller departed for 35 off 77 runs when he got a low edge from Sharma to be taken behind by wicketkeeper Karthik and Zimbabwe were six down with 127 runs on board. Former skipper Prosper Utseya did not last in the middle before he fell to Shami, caught by Rohit Sharma for one run off 12 balls.
In the batting PowerPlay, Zimbabwe scored 21 runs and lost two wickets in the process.
Tendai Chatara was Zimbabwe’s eighth wicket to fall, dismissed by Mishra going for a wayward shot to be snared by Jadeja.
Chigumbura reached his 50 from 66 deliveries, an innings with four fours with a single off the bowling of Mishra.
Zimbabwe were nine down with the score on 43 runs, Brian Vitori bowled by Mishra for eight runs. It was all over when last batsman in Michael Chinouya was taken in the slips by Virat Kohli without scoring, having faced one delivery.
In their run chase, India took their time with the first 10 overs of their innings producing only 23 runs. During that process, they lost the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara, bowled by Chatara for 13 runs.
Thereafter India were untroubled as Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina led their team to an easy triumph. Sharma and Raina shared in an unbroken 122 run partnership for the second wicket.
Scorecard
Zimbabwe Innings R B
Vusumuzi Sibanda b Jadeja 24 45
Sikandar Raza c +Karthik b Sharma 7 17
H/Masakadza run out (Jadeja) 10 15
*+Brendan Taylor lbw b Jadeja 0 9
Sean Williams b Unadkat 0 2
Malcolm Waller c +Karthik b Sharma 35 77
Elton Chigumbura not out 50 66
Prosper Utseya c Rohit b Shami 1 12
Tendai Chatara c Jadeja b Mishra 1 6
Brian Vitori b Mishra 8 6
Michael Chinouya c Kohli b Mishra 0 1
Extras: (2b, 2nb, 4w) 8
Total: (all out 42.4 overs) 144
Fall of wickets: 1-16(Raza 6.4 overs), 2-36(Masakadza 10.4 overs), 3-44(13.5 overs), 4-47(Williams 14.3 overs), 5-47(Sibanda 15.1 overs), 6-127(Waller 37 overs), 7-130(Utseya 39.2 overs), 8-133(Chatara 40.4 overs), 9-143(Vitori 42.3 overs), 10-144(Chinouya 42.4 overs)
Bowling: Mohit Sharma 10-3-26-2(1w), Mohammed Shami 8-1-34-1(2w), Jaidev Unadkat 7-0-27-1, Ravindra Jadeja 9-1-28-2, Amit Mishra 8.4-0-25-3(1w)
India Innings (Target 145 runs 50 overs)
R B
Cheteshwar Pujara b Chatara 13 24
Rohit Sharma not out 64 90
Suresh Raina not out 65 71
Extras: (1lb, 2w) 3
Total: (one wicket 30.5 overs) 145
Fall of wickets: 1-23(Pujara 9.3 overs)
Did not bat: *Virat Kohli, +Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Jaidev Unadkat, Mohit Sharma
Bowling: Brian Vitori 5.5-1-21-0, Michael Chinouya 4-0-14-0, Tendai Chatara 5-1-31-1(1w), Prosper Utseya 9-0-42-0(1w), Elton Chigumbura 2-0-12-0, Sean Williams 4-0-21-0, Malcolm Waller 1-0-3-0
Result: India won by nine wickets
Man of the match: Mohit Sharma (India)
Series: India lead five match series 4-0
Online Reporter