India vs Zimbabwe 2016: Reliving 5 memorable matches between India and Zimbabwe
As India embark on their tour of Zimbabwe with plenty of fresh blood enthused into the setup, albeit under the experienced guidance of MS Dhoni, they aim to look at the strength of their domestic stalwarts. This Indian squad picked for the tour has reflected the selectors' interest in rewarding domestic performers with the blue cap. In a side that features only one cricketer who has played over 100 ODIs, several youngsters would have the opportunities to cement their places in the team and become a regular member.
However, it wasn’t always the case that India featured their second-string teams against Zimbabwe. During their heydays, Zimbabwe too were a force to reckon with, albeit only for a short duration of time, and these two nations have played some memorable encounters over the years. While Zimbabwe have been considered to be one of the minnows in the international circuit for the better part of the past 10 years, they once had some limited-overs stalwarts like Grant Flower, Andy Flower, Heath Streak etc. and could pose a decent challenge to any of the top sides.
Against India as well, Zimbabwe have played some extremely competitive cricket in the years gone by, and in this piece, we try to remember and relive five such encounters.
1. India vs Zimbabwe – 1983 World Cup, 18th June 1983
The two sides met for the first time during the 1983 Cricket World Cup and played each other twice during that tournament. During then second of the two matches, Zimbabwe looked to be in for a massive upset over their relatively experienced opponents, when they reduced India to 17/5, with the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Kris Srikanth, Mohinder Amarnath and Sandeep Patil already back in the hut.
It didn’t look, at that stage, that India would be able to bat out their 60 overs (ODIs used to be of 60 overs per side back then) and a massive upset looked to be on the cards. It was then that arguably India’s greatest ever all-rounder and the then captain of the side, Kapil Dev, rose to the occasion and took the Zimbabwean players by surprise through his counter-attacking, game-changing, and unbeaten innings of 175 runs off just 138 balls with 16 fours and 6 sixes. It was a complete domination by the Indian batsman and all the Zimbabwe bowlers were taken to the cleaners.
As a consequence, India were able to put up 266 runs on the board for the loss of 8 wickets in their designated 20 overs. In reply, the Zimbabwean batsmen got close to the target but couldn’t overhaul it, as they were bowled out for 235 runs in 57 overs thereby handing India the victory by 31 runs.
Result: India won by 31 runs.