India are having a great time in Zimbabwe as they once again rattled the hosts by winning the fourth ODI by nine wickets to take a 4-0 lead. It was some fine bowling from the likes of Mohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja which setup a nice platform for India’s victory. Though Elton Chigumbura did score a half-century but even that couldn’t take his team over 150 mark as they were bundled up for 144. In reply to this low total, India did have a slow start which resulted in Chetashwar Pujara’s wicket but Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma did well to knit a 122 runs partnership and took India home with a flying colours.
Here we bring to you the hits and flops from the fourth ODI between India and Zimbabwe.
HITS
Rohit Sharma: Though he was a slow starter, Sharma played yet another handy knock at the top. Sharma remained unbeaten on 64 which should boost his confidence for the final ODI of the series.
Elton Chigumbura: Chigumbura played a good knock to get his team to near 150 mark. He scored 50 off 66 balls that he faced. He has this unique ability to keep his calm under the pressure which other batsmen of his team has failed to do.
Suresh Raina: Raina played another brilliant knock of 65 runs but the special thing was his ability to counterattack from the word go. He didn’t allow Zimbabwean bowlers to do any more damage and played some risk-free shots. It was because of his efforts that Sharma got some kick and the duo chased the target very quickly.
Mohit Sharma: Sharma was adjudged man-of-the-match for his brilliant bowling as he ended up with the figures of 2/26 after 10 overs, including three maiden overs. His ability to provide early breakthroughs is something which is very much needed for a good start and replacing him with Vinay Kumar was also a smart decision from Virat Kohli.
Ravindra Jadeja: Jadeja was an absolute beauty not just while rolling his arms over but also while fielding. His strong arms got Hamilton Masakadza run out and thereafter he went on to pick up the wickets of Brendon Taylor and Vusi Sibanda. He ended up with the figures of 2/28 after his nine overs.
FLOPS
Chetashwar Pujara: Pujara didn’t have a kind of debut he wanted and got dismissed after scoring 13 runs. He got out of a good length ball which just sneaked through his bat and pad to knock over his leg-stump.
Brendon Taylor: Taylor has been the worst performer for Zimbabwe so far. He has neither made inspiring bowling changes nor promoted the batsmen who are playing well down the order. His captaincy has been below average so far and he needs to do something out of the box to win atleast one match of this series.
Vusi Sibanda: Sibanda wasted a good start of 24 runs, especially when four wickets were already down. He did well to negotiate the new ball but just couldn’t continue his good run. He needs to be cautious of this thing because he has that ruthless ability to smack the ball out of the park at his will which can give any bowler run for his money.
Sikandar Raza: Raza hasn’t been in the best of form after the opening game of this bilateral series. His wicket was claimed by Mohit who bowled a good length ball to get him out for seven. He has been trying to play lots of shots earlier in his innings and therefore has lost his wicket early.
Hamilton Masakadza: Masakadza couldn’t do much and was undone by the brilliant throw from Jadeja. He was looking good to get a big score, but ran himself out for just 10 runs.
By Amit Chopra,
Indian Sports News Network
