Zim in historic T20  win over India

chamuPaul Munyuki Sports Reporter
HARARE Sports Club burst into joy yesterday as Zimbabwe’s cricketers posted an historic maiden Twenty20 win over India in the second of the two game series with a 10 run win that sent the whole stadium into a frenzy.

Winning the toss and electing to field first, Zimbabwe’s decision paid off as India failed to chase Zimbabwe’s total of 147/5 in their allotted 20 overs but the visitors were all out for 135 to share the Royal Stag Cup 1-1.

With Sikanda Raza Butt as the stand in captain, Chamunorwa Chibhabha starred with the bat before the Chevrons put up a wonderful performance with the ball as Graeme Creamer led the attack with figures of 3-18 in his four overs.

Chibhabha once again was the best batsman for Zimbabwe as he managed 67 off 51 deliveries with nine fours as he was the only player to score half a century, resulting in him being named as Man-of-the-Match – and deservingly so having batted through five partnerships.

He went on to show how good a fielder he can be and it was during the same spell that the Zimbabwe bowl attack made life difficult for the tourists as India failed to work their way into the game.

There were several changes to the Zimbabwe line up, Chigumbura out after he pulled his hamstring, Sean Williams was back in after passing a fitness test so was Malcolm Waller while Neville Madziva was out also injured.

Zimbabwe’s win, might have been a case of the hosts learning from their previous defeats as they went on to celebrate a much needed win which comes in as a relief not only for the Chevrons but a nation that had been waiting for a cricket win.

The victory might have come in the last game of the series but Zimbabwe celebrated like they had won the series despite having lost the ODI series by a 3-0 series whitewash.

Having won only one game in any of the limited overs series since the World Cup when Zimbabwe beat the United Arab Emirates, life had not been going on well for coach Dav Whatmore and his army, but yesterday they pulled one back against the big boys.

It was a different set-up yesterday, so was the environment as Raza Butt in his role as the captain was more noticeable, proactive as he commanded his side well and made sure he kept a tight fielding set up against the Indians.

That he kept his players on their toes as he motivated them and incited them with pats on the back, encouragement in words and that alone was good enough to prove how much of a natural leader he is.

With two overs to go, India needed 25 runs and it was up to seamers Christopher Mpofu and Tarurai Muzarabani and they acquitted themselves well as they got two wickets and had put India under immense pressure that with three deliveries to go India needed 15 runs.

With Muzarabani taking the penultimate over of the game, he claimed the wicket of Patel who was caught by Waller off the fourth as he departed the crease leaving India needing 22 runs from eight deliveries and one wicket in hand.

The onus was on Mpofu to wrap up the game and it was in this over that India needed 19 runs for a win but it was not to be as Zimbabwe put pressure on the Indians Kumar falling to a run out off a Charles Coventry/Mpofu throw.

With slow bowler Prosper Utseya opening the defence, India captain Ajyanke Rahane (four) was the first to depart with just the third delivery of the India innings and then that only the second wicket partnership made their only meaningful partnership.

The pair of Murali Vijay (13 off 11) and Robin Uthappa (42 off 25 with nine fours) on the crease, then came up with a 53-run stand but this was before Creamer claimed the scalp of (caught and bowled) Vijay in the seventh over, Vijay departing with his side on 57/2 and that marked start of a bad spell for the India attack.

Pandey, trapped lbw, also took the long walk back to the pavilion in the same over before India could add anymore runs to the scoreboard and in the following over Williams was responsible for Uthappa before Creamer got his third in the sixteenth over, Binny caught by Chibhabha.

Scorecard

Toss Zimbabwe (won by 10 runs)

Zimbabwe Innings

Masakadza c †Uthappa b S Sharma 19

Chibhabha b Kumar 67

Sikandar Raza* c Samson b Sharma 8

Williams c & b Patel 17

Coventry† lbw b Binny 4

Ervine b Kumar 7

Waller not out 6

Utseya c Patel b Sharma 1

Cremer not out 0

Extras (b 5, lb 1, w 9, nb 1) 16

Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 145

Did not bat: Mpofu, Muzarabani

F-o-W: 1-28 (Masakadza, 3.2 ov), 2-48 (Sikandar Raza, 5.4 ov), 3-85 (Williams, 11.1 ov), 4-113 (Coventry, 15.3 ov), 5-132 (Chibhabha, 18.1 ov), 6-139 (Ervine, 18.4 ov), 7-142 (Utseya, 19.3 ov)

Bowling: Kumar 4-0-26-2(3w); Sandeep Sharma 4-0-39-1 (1nb, 2w); Binny 2-0-14-1; Sharma 4-0-28-2; Vijay 2-0-9-0; Patel 4-0-23-1.

India innings

Rahane* run out (Chibhabha/†Coventry) 4

Vijay b Cremer 13

Uthappa† c & b Williams 42

Pandey lbw b Cremer 0

Jadhav run out (Muzarabani) 5

Binny c Chibhabha b Cremer 4

Samson c Waller b Mpofu 19

Patel c Williams b Muzarabani 13

Kumar run out (†Coventry/Mpofu) 9

Sharma not out 3

Sandeep Sharma not out 1

Extras (b 1, w 1) 2

Total (9 wickets; 20 overs) 135

F-o-W: 1-4 (Rahane, 0.3 ov), 2-57 (Vijay, 6.1 ov), 3-57 (Pandey, 6.4 ov), 4-61 (Uthappa, 7.3 ov), 5-69 (Jadhav, 8.6 ov), 6-105 (Binny, 15.1 ov), 7-117 (Samson, 17.4 ov), 8-124 (Patel, 18.4 ov), 9-131 (Kumar, 19.3 ov)

Bowling: Utseya 3-0-18-0(1w); Muzarabani 3-0-23-1; Mpofu 3-0-26-1; Chibhabha 1-0-9-0; Williams 4-0-31-1; Cremer 4-0-18-3; Sikandar Raza 2-0-9-0.

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