India Finally Win Battle Against Zimbabwe, Win T-20 Series 2-0

14th June, 2010.

Winning against Zimbabwe looked like an impossible task for the Indian cricket team but India proved yesterday by winning both the T20 matches against the host, that they are no underdog.

In their first T20 match, India won the toss and gave the host the opportunity to bat first and the task to put runs on the board turned out to be quite a task. The Indian bowling was precise and the line and length of every bowler was spot on. The Zimbabwe team was sent back to the pavilion in after just scoring 112 runs. In the bowling department the bowlers who displayed character were paceman Vinay Kumar (3/24), Ashok Dinda (2/27) and Pragyat Ojha (2/11).

Suresh Raina finally had some joy with his bat

When Indian batsmen came out to bat the total didn’t seem challenging enough,but as usual without a few hiccoughs here and there the road to victory for the Indian team is never fully desirable. Both the opener Murli Vijay (5) and Naman Ojha (2) were sent back to the pavilion within 3 overs. Captain Suresh Raina (28) and Rohit Sharma (10) tried to steady the sinking ship. But, when it looked like everything was in India’s control both the batsmen handed over their wickets to the hosting team in quick succession. At 48-4 India did look like the match could swing in anyones favor but the young Virat Kohli (27) and Yousuf Pathan (36)shared a 64 run 5th wicket partnership and ensured that the match was firmily in their clasp. India won the match by 6 wickets and both the batsmen gifted themselves the victory with five overs to spare.

In the second T20 match once again Zimbabwe were given the task to set a total for the Indian team to chase down. India once again bowled well and fielded well to restrict the host team to a total of 140 runs. The highest wicket taker in the match was Ashok Dinda, he bowled exceptionally well and gave away only 15 runs in his 4 over spell taking 2 crucial wickets. In the Zimbabwian team it was the wicketkeeper-batsmen Taiten Taibu who scored 45 runs to become the top scorer of his team. He along with team mate Charles Coventry (28) steered the Zimbabwe innings to a modest total of 140 runs.

When India came out to bat it was the Indian Captain Suresh Raina who did the job for his country. He moved up the order once opener Naman Ojha (10) was out. Hitting a blistering 72 runs in just 44 bowls. He remained not out and made sure that India came out victorious in this match. He along with team mate Murli Vijay (46) shared a 79 run stand for the second wicket. The Zimbabwian bowlers didn’t seem to pose any sort of trouble for the visiting team. The Indian team won the match by 7 wickets. Winning the series 2-0.

Right before the Asia Cup against the neighbouring country Sri Lanka, this win comes as a great energy and ego boost for the youngsters. Hoping that they perform just like they have in the past two matches in the T20, here’s wishing them all the best from the entire sportskeeda unit.
Alifiya. Dalal.