India VS Zimbabwe 3rd ODI - India whitewashed Zimbabwe before moving to Asia Cup
Sikandar Raza stood tall in the chase of 289 runs, but India successfully inflicted a 3-0 series whitewash on Zimbabwe as they defeated the hosts by 13 runs
India Team celebrateWinning the toss again in the third match, India opted to bat first for a change. Shikhar Dhawan (40) and KL Rahul (30) opened the innings to provide a decent anchoring start. India posted a total of 289 on board owing to the incredible maiden ton scored by Shubman Gill as he stitched a 140-run stand with Ishan Kishan, who made 50.
Apart from the top four batters, the complete batting line-up stumbled to the bowlers. Only Sanju Samson reached 15; the rest returned with a single-digit individual score.
Zimbabwe bowlers were terrific in keeping the Indian middle order silent. Brad Evans returned with the figure of 5/54, completing his spell of 10 overs, whereas Victor Nyauchi and Luke Jongwe took a wicket each.
The chase began in favour of Indian bowlers with the early wicket of Innocent Kaia by Deepak Chahar in the third over. Sean William scored 45 runs briskly before Axar Patel trapped him. Zimbabwe looked entirely down and behind when they stood at 169/7.
The two left-arm spinners, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav bowled well in the middle overs as they finished with combined figures of 20-1-68-4
But Sikandar Raza had something else in his plans. He played amazingly well to put Indian pacers under pressure. His never giving up attitude inflected well against Indian bowlers as well. After shining with the ball, Brad Evans came in handy with the bat to give Sikandar Raza a much-needed partnership stand. They both fetched 104 runs in 77 balls, of which only 28 came from Brad Evans.
With just 17 runs in the last two overs, Shubman Gill took the game-changing catch to dismiss Sikandar Raza at 115. Avesh Khan gave the finishing touch to bundle out the team and register a 13-run win.
Zimbabwe won the last series against Bangladesh, but the batting problems highlighted during that series came screaming in the face of the hosts in this series against India. Zimbabwe, a potentially good team, must work hard on their top-order batting.
This series also gave India a few pointers for the Asia Cup that will start on the 27th of August. The whitewash will boost confidence in the young members on this tour who will be part of the Asia Cup squad. India is yet to be defeated in the Asia cup in the last two years, and this year also, things look in favour of defending champions only.
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