40.3 overs Zimbabwe 189 (Chakabva 35, Ngarava 34, Axar 3-24, Chahar 3-27, Prasidh 3-50) vs India
Regis Chakabva had said after losing the toss that his batters had to find a way to negotiate the first hour of play, and that’s what they couldn’t do. Just like it happened in the three ODIs against Bangladesh, the Zimbabwe top order wobbled once more – to 31 for 4 – and the onus fell on Chakabva and Sikandar Raza again.
Chahar started gingerly and took a couple of overs to get his rhythm right, and once he did, he and Mohammed Siraj kept the hosts on a leash. They leaked a few extras early on with wayward lines but the batters had scored only five of the 18 runs in the first four overs.
Chahar had the openers caught behind in his successive overs, Innocent Kaia edging a pull behind for 4 off 20 and Tadiwanashe Marumani poking at an outswinger for 8 off 22. Seven balls after Marumani’s wicket in the ninth over, the returning Sean Williams also poked outside off and edged Siraj to first slip on his third ball. Five balls later, Chahar’s late outswing beat Wessley Madhevere to trap him lbw for 5, and Zimbabwe were four down in 10.1 overs.
It briefly looked like Chakabva would steer the ship out of choppy waters when he bashed three fours in the space of eight balls. Raza also exhibited his fine form with a confident cover drive for four off Chahar’s outswing. He was given lbw next ball off an inswinger but he used the DRS to get the decision overturned as the ball was swinging down leg.
They also rotated the strike regularly to force bowling changes on India. Evans was more attacking of the two and used the late cut and slog sweep to collect boundaries off the spinners, and drove against the quick bowlers. Ngarava started slowly but picked up pace as the stand neared the 50-mark and even swung Axar for a big six over long-on before he was bowled by Prasidh in the 40th over. Axar took the last wicket – his 50th in ODIs – as he and Prasidh both ended with three wickets each.