Published: Jul 25, 2013, 02:12 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 25, 2013, 02:12 PM (IST)
Zimbabwe were no match for the sheer individual brilliance of Virat Kohli in the first match © AFP
Harare: Jul 25, 2013
An expectedly comfortable win to start with, the young Indian team under Virat Kohli would look to continue asserting its supremacy over minnows Zimbabwe when the two sides clash in the second one-dayer of the ongoing five-match series here Friday.
In a perfect start to the tour, India thrashed Zimbabwe by six wickets with Kohli leading from the front, scoring a hundred Wednesday.
But the win was not without a few glitches with the inexperience of Indian bowlers exploited by a couple of Zimbabwean batsmen.
Sikandar Raza nearly got a hundred while, lower down the order, Elton Chigumbura managed to torment the Indians for quite a while with a 34-ball 43 which included half-a-dozen boundaries.
In fact, India’s lead pacer R Vinay Kumar ended up conceding at a rate more than six in his nine overs. But on the brighter side, the rest of the attack made up for his off day with spinner Amit Mishra picking up three wickets in his 10 overs.
The Zimbabwean batsmen did not exactly disgrace themselves and posted a decent total which was, however, no match for the sheer individual brilliance of Kohli.
Among others, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan had a bad day but they too should get some big scores in the series which has been described as being terribly lopsided despite India being a depleted team.
Another positive to emerge for India apart from Kohli’s swashbuckling knock, was the half-century by debutant Ambati Rayudu.
A veteran of First-Class cricket, Rayudu finally got his One-Day International break Wednesday and delivered well with a calculated 63-run knock. If he can continue in the same vein in the coming games, the 27-year-old’s confidence would certainly head northwards.
