with Thakur’s three wickets, it wasn’t a convincing batting performance from India, despite Samson’s top-scoring 43 unbeaten
After a 56-run partnership between Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson and a strong bowling performance led by Shardul Thakur’s three-for, India defeated Zimbabwe for the fourteenth time in a row to win the three-ODI series on Saturday in Harare.
The day’s most successful wicket-taker for India was Thakur. Mohammed Siraj’s eight overs only yielded 16 runs, but it took a team effort as all of the bowlers on display claimed wickets to dismiss Zimbabwe for 161. India responded by easily winning the match with five wickets and more than 24 overs remaining.
Compared to the first ODI, it was not quite a dominance, but the KL Rahul-led team did not have to strain themselves much thanks to the easy 162-run target.
When Zimbabwe was asked to bat, the openers Takudzwanashe Kaitano—who was substituted for Tadiwanashe Marumani—and Innocent Kaia got things going slowly. The advice was obviously to save wickets early on when there is support for seamers after losing four wickets in less than ten overs in the first ODI.
When Kaia made the decision to attack Thakur, they had stumbled to 12 for zero after seven overs. In Thakur’s subsequent delivery, he flicked one well over midwicket before using the cross-batted pull to send one past mid-on’ right.
Thakur made his intentions clear and shook the Zimbabwe top-order with his twin blow in the 12th over in place of Deepak Chahar, who was unable to play due to his exploits in the last ODI.
Kaitano was edged to wicketkeeper Samson by Siraj, who struck from the other end. Samson dove to his right to hold on after being caught off guard. Following the dismissals of Regis Chakabva and Kaia in his third over, Prasidh Krishna’s peach sent Wessly Madhevere going back.
When Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav joined the attack, Sikandar Raza and Sean Williams, who had moved to No. 6, temporarily held the line. Despite appearing uneasy, they maintained their position despite the attack. In particular, Raza battled Axar’s arm balls and orthodox spinners while surviving an aggressive lbw appeal. When Raza, though, cut one to backward point and lost to Kuldeep, their 41-run partnership was broken.
Even though captain KL Rahul, who was elevated to the top position, was bowled out by Victor Nyauchi for just one run, in the response Shikhar Dhawan got off to a roaring start.
Tanaka Chivanga, who took Richard Ngarava’s position in the Zimbabwe XI, was running at a high rate of speed. Dhawan used his feet well to cut and drive against this. In just six overs, India surged to 41 for 1 before Chivanga took revenge with a flawless fast bowler’s comeback.
As Dhawan was caught off guard after being sharply driven through the covers, Chivanga angled a bouncer into him and skied the pull towards midwicket.
Shubman Gill got things rolling from No. 3 with a pull through midwicket before hitting a few drives through the covers off Nyauchi. Shubman Gill had completed 82 not out in the first game when Dhawan struck 81 not out in the ten-wicket victory.
However, Hooda and Samson kept up the chase by displaying some of their best attacking skills. Samson particularly enjoyed the spin of Raza and Williams, smashing two of three combined sixes before hitting another off Kaia’s leg spin to secure the victory.
Samson demonstrated his ability to finish strong while batting at No. 6 and may have served as a further reminder of his strengths in white-ball cricket by scoring 43 not out off just 39 balls.
