India completed a clean sweep win against Zimbabwe after winning the third and final ODI in Harare on Monday. Chasing 290 in 50 overs, the hosts were bowled out for 276 in the final over.
The home side had lost wickets at regular intervals but it was in-form Sikandar Raza who put up a great show with the bat and notched up a hundred to keep the team in the hunt. He was eventually dismissed for 115 as Zimbabwe lost the match by 13 runs.
Earlier, Shubman Gill also scored a century, his first in the ODIs while Brad Evans scalped a five-wicket haul.
We now take a look at some of the talking points from the game.
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Shubman Gill brings up maiden ton
India had a decent start to proceedings in the third match after opting to bat first but lost a couple of wickets in quick succession with captain KL Rahul and his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan back in the hut. But youngsters Shubman Gill and wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan took on the onus on themselves and provided the resistance with a 140-run stand for the third wicket.
While Ishan was run out for 50, Gill went on to score his first hundred at the highest level. The right-hander started off the innings in a cautious manner and held the fort at one end before eventually accelerating after he got settled in.
Gill’s knock comprised of 15 fours and a maximum but the highlights were his off and straight drives as he didn’t shy away from putting away the bad deliveries especially the ones pitched on the fuller length to the boundary.
Spinners pick crucial wickets
Spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav played a major role in India’s win on Monday as the two bowlers picked up crucial wickets and also bowled at a good economy rate.
Axar first trapped Sean Williams in front of the stumps for 45 and later caught Zimbabwe captain Regis Chakabva for 16 on his own bowling. The left-arm bowler returned with figures of 2/30 in 10 overs.
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Kuldeep on the other side, removed Takudzwanashe Kaitano after he was stumped by Ishan Kishan to give India the fifth scalp and later got rid of Luke Jongwe who was caught in the slips by Shubman Gill.
Kuldeep picked up two wickets in 10 overs for 38 runs.
Deepak Chahar’s expensive spell
India bowler Deepak Chahar was included in the XI for this match after being rested in the previous encounter. But the right-arm bowler didn’t really have a great outing as he leaked some runs especially in the final phase of the game.
Chahar had provided India the first breakthrough after he sent Innocent Kaia packing with a perfect Yorker that trapped him in front of the stumps. The batter was out for 6 off 9. He later got Ryan Burl’s wicket who stepped out against Chahar but played a shot straight to Shikhar Dhawan at mid on to get caught for 8 off 16.
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While Chahar bagged a couple of wickets, he was taken on by the Zimbabwe batters as they made good use of the short and back of the length deliveries that he bowled to fetch important runs in the later stage of the clash.
Chahar eventually returned with figures of 2/75 in 10 overs.
Sikandar Raza’s resistance
Sikandar Raza was the pick of the batters for Zimbabwe as he held the fort at one end despite witnessing a collapse at the other.
The hosts were 169/7 when Raza was joined by Brad Evans in the middle. The two batters chipped in with a 104-run stand to keep the home side in the game.
Raza did the bulk of scoring as he eventually went on to score a 115 off 95 which included three maximums and 9 fours. Evans on the other side, also chipped in with 28 off 36.
The right-handed batter took the Indian bowling attack on in the final overs of the innings and scored runs at a brisk pace and especially dispatched the over-pitched deliveries, outside off to the boundary rope quite easily.
Raza was finally dismissed, courtesy a heroic effort in the field by Shubman Gill. He was the 9th wicket to go down for Zimbabwe.
Shubman Gill shows athleticism
The way Sikandar Raza was batting, it needed a heroic effort to send him back to the pavilion and Shubman Gill did exactly the same in the penultimate over. Shardul bowled a touch of the length delivery, wide of off to Raza that didn’t really had much pace on it. The batter swung his bat with full force but couldn’t quite go the distance as he was beaten with the pace and played the ball in the air.
Shubman Gill who was stationed a bit wide of long on charged in and put in a perfect dive to his left and completed a stunner.
India later bowled out Zimbabwe to win the match and the series.
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