Harare: Virat Kohli once again played a gem of an innings to score his 15th century and steered India to a six-wicket win over Zimbabwe at Harare on Wednesday.
Kohli played a fine innings of 115 runs and was really well complemented by the debutant Ambati Rayudu, who remained unbeaten on 63. It was their brilliant partnership of 159 runs which saw India through this opening match of the series.
In the bowling department, it was Amit Mishra who did the maximum amount of damage along with Jayadev Unadkat who bowled some very tight line to restrict the Zimbabwe batsmen.
Meanwhile, it was the crucial knocks of Sikandar Raza and Elton Chigumbura which allowed Zimbabwe to post a decent total of 228 runs on the board. Raza played a steady innings of 82 runs off 112 balls, whereas it was a swashbuckling cameo of 43 runs from Chigumbura that took the hosts past 200 mark.
Chasing the target, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma smacked some crisp boundaries but couldn’t continue it for too long and were sent back to the pavilion by the 13th over of the innings. But Kohli did well to steady the ship for India and was keeping the score board ticking, as he rotated the strike on consistent basis with Rayudu. Rayudu also looked in good touch from the very beginning of his innings as he was timing the ball really well. The duo added 50 runs in the next 12 overs and Kohli also reached his fifty off 57 balls.
This pair then gave Indian innings some sort of momentum as they started dealing in boundaries on consistent basis. Zimbabwe bowlers were hardly making an impact on the run-rate which always looked under the control for this duo. They added next 50 runs to their third-wicket stand in just eight overs which took the hosts out of the contest. Kohli departed at 115 off Prosper Utsaya, but by that time the captain had done his job as India needed just 13 runs for the win. Raina followed Kohli as he got caught at extra cover. Rayudu managed to take India to a win in the 44.5 overs.
Earlier in the day, it was a very good start for Zimbabwe as their opening duo added 72 runs for the first wicket but in the process they played out 22 overs. Sikandar looked in good touch but he didn’t find enough support from the other end. First, it was Sean Williams who was undone by Suresh Raina and after that it was Mishra who got the wicket of Hamilton Masakadza. Brendon Taylor did try to steady the innings with Sikandar as he knitted a partnership of 43 runs but Unadkat sent him back to the pavilion.
Shami Ahmed, who bowled exceptionally well in the first spell, came back well to get the wicket of Malcolm Waller but it was the wicket of Sikandar picked up by Mishra which nailed their innings. However, the heroics of Chigumbura gave a new lease of life to the sudden collapse, as he smashed crucial 43 runs off just 34 balls that he faced. Zimbabwe scored 228 runs in the 50 overs.