Though Zimbabwe fared miserably with the bat for the second time in a row against a second-string Indian team, their captain Regis Chakabva pointed out the positives from their defeat on Saturday. Indian bowlers once again troubled Zimbabwe batters in Harare limiting them to 161 in 38.1 overs in the 2nd ODI.
This was even lower then the series opener when the hosts somehow managed to drag themselves to 189. However, unlike the thrashing they received in the first ODI on Thursday as India stormed to a 10-wicket win, Zimbabwean bowlers showed some spark with a much improved performance.
2nd ODI: Samson, Thakur Shine as India Beat Zimbabwe
India captain KL Rahul promoted himself to open the innings alongside Shikhar Dhawan. Right-arm pacer Tanaka Chivanga bowled a decent first over where he rapped Dhawan on the pads with the very first delivery before producing a lifter which the India opener let go of.
However, it was Victor Nyauchi who landed an early blow when he trapped Rahul lbw on 1 in the second over of India’s chase.
Chivanga then got the better of Dhawan with a short delivery by having him hole out on 33. And then Luke Jongwe accounted for Ishan Kishan (6) and Shubman Gill (33) with India reduced to 97/4.
However, there weren’t enough runs for Zimbabwe to put India under pressure. Sanju Samson scored an unbeaten 43 and with Deepak Hooda (25) added 56 runs for the fifth wicket to end their flickering hopes.
“I think we had a really good fight,” Chakabva said during the post-match presentation.
He acknowledged his team’s failure to put opponents under some pressure by taking early wickets. “Last few games we struggled to pick up early wickets and (today) we managed to do that. Today we were short of a few runs. We were up for the challenge, the bowlers hit their lengths really well,” Chakabva said.
Also Read: IND vs ZIM, 2nd ODI Highlights
Zimbabwe will be hoping for a much better performance having already conceded the series and prevent India from securing a clean sweep when they square off for the third and final time on Monday.
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