India managed to pull out another sensational win as they defeated Zimbabwe by 58 runs in the second ODI and are leading the series 2-0. Shikhar Dhawan grabbed the opportunity with both the hands and got India out of trouble along with Dinesh Karthik as they added 167 runs for the fifth wicket and brought back India into the game But for India, the real problem lies in bowling department where Shami Ahmed and Vinay Kumar have failed to provide early bearkthroughs.

Here we bring to you the hits and flops of the match between India and Zimbabwe in second one-day.

HITS

Shikhar Dhawan: Dhawan made the most of the dropped catches and went on to slam a ton for his side. He wasn’t timing the ball as sweetly as he likes to but got his act together and started playing those exquisite cover-drives later. He had a good partnership of 167 runs with Karthik and got India out of a tough situation.

Elton Chigumbura: He played another fine knock of 46 runs and was also quite economical in his bowling. He can be promoted up the order especially when batsmen above him are not firing as consistently as he is. Chigumbura could have made the difference if Zimbabwe wouldn’t have conceded extras.

Dinesh Karthik: Karthik played a fine knock of 69 runs. Unfortunately he made a suicidal call and ran himself out. His ability to bat in tough situations makes him a special player and that’s why his innings stand out. He hardly made any mistakes once he was settled in. He kept the score board ticking by rotating the strike in the mid-overs and took the calculated risks during the power play.

Vusi Sibanada: Sibanad gave his team an ideal start which they failed to capitalise on. He was attacking in his approach and smacked as much as seven fours and two sixes in his innings. His innings was the chief reason behind such a good response of Zimbabwe in first 20 overs of the innings.

Jaydev Unadkat: Unadkat was phenomenal in this match, as whenever his captain threw the ball to him, he delivered by picking up a wicket. His bowling in death overs was something that India is searching for quite a sometime. Not bowling too short and making the batsmen play the ball was something that made him a stood apart from the rest of the bowlers in this contest and as a result he ended up with 4/41.

Brian Vitori: He bowled a brilliantly in first spell and was looking for wickets in almost every delivery that he bowled. He kept on the pressure from one side and made sure that India is not off to a flying start. In his very first ball of the match, he picked up the wicket of Rohit Sharma and because of some very good line and length that he kept during his eight overs, he ended up with 2/27.

FLOPS

Rohit Sharma: Sharma failed to deliver for the second time in this series. His tentative shot-selection got him caught at second slip by Vitori. He departed without making any significant contribution to the Indian total. He also achieved a unique feat of not playing a single test after playing 100 ODI’s.

Brendan Taylor: The most consistent batsman in the batting line-up has hardly been able to score runs against India. He ran himself out at a very crucial time.

Suresh Raina: Raina again missed the opportunity of scoring some big runs. His tendency to keep shuffling across the leg-stump again got him into trouble as he nicked the ball which went straight into the hands of Brendon Taylor.  This season hasn’t been as good and his average is mere 18 in last 12 matches.

Vinay Kumar:  Kumar has failed to impress on this tour, he has bowled either short deliveries or full toss because of which he has conceded boundary at regular intervals. On a pitch that was offering assistance to the bowlers only when they were putting the ball in right areas, hardly changed his minds as was clear from the fact that he got smacked for seven fours of which four were on short balls and three on full toss.

Kyle Jarvis: Jarvis started off well but his inconsistent line and length got him smacked for boundaries quite frequently. He couldn’t do much once Shikhar Dhawan got on-song and was left with devastated figures of 1/70. He needs to take care of no-balls and wides because that’s what something that bogged down Zimbabwe.

By Amit Chopra,
Indian Sports News Network