Bulawayo: India extended their lead by 4-0 in the five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe as they registered an easy win in the fourth ODI at Bulawayo on Thursday. Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma batted well to help India register a nine-wicket win. They put up a brilliant partnership of 114 runs for the second wicket and chased down the target of 145 runs in just 31 overs.
Chetashwar Pujara fell early in the chase for 13 but the moment Raina made his way to the middle, the pitch looked more of a batting paradise. He started rotating the strikes with Sharma and their 50-run partnership came up in the 20th over.
After that Raina and Sharma added 64 runs in just 11 overs to wind up the match and also reached their half-centuries in process. Raina remained unbeaten on 65 whereas Sharma scored 64 runs.
Earlier, it was some brilliant bowling from the debutante Mohit Sharma, who picked up the wicket of Sikandar Raza in his third over. After that it was some fantastic bowling and fielding by Ravindra Jadeja who sent three batsmen back to the pavilion and reduced Zimbabwe to 5/47.
However, Malcolm Waller and Elton Chigumbura were having very different plans in their mind and they did execute it very well to knit a partnership of 80 runs which was the highest for the hosts in this match. Waller departed after scoring 35 runs, which was studded with three fours and one six. It was Mohit who got him caught behind. Few overs later, Mohammad Shami struck and got Prosper Utsaya out for just one run and they were reduced to 7/130.
But Chigumbura continued his fight and brought up his half-century before Amit Mishra picked up the final three wickets to bundle up the Zimbabwean innings for 144. Mohit Sharma ended up with the impressive figures of 2/26 in his spell of 10 overs, including three maiden overs.