ODI series & T20 Series ZIM V IND

1st ODI

Zimbabwe 168 (49.5 ov)
India 173/1 (42.3 ov)
India won by 9 wickets (with 45 balls remaining)

Second-string or not, an Indian team made up of three debutants beat a close-to-full-strength Zimbabwe comprehensively in Harare. KL Rahul introduced himself to ODIs with 100 not out off 115 balls at the top of the order; an ideal scenario for a team chasing only 169 and looking to expand their talent pool.

It was the first time in history that an Indian batsman had struck a century on debut and he reached the landmark with a towering six over long-on when there were only two runs to get in the 43rd over. But until the lure of three figures, Rahul's primary objective had been to occupy the crease for as long as possible and very few of the Zimbabwe bowlers seemed able to persuade him otherwise.

As can be expected in seamer-friendly conditions, he had to get through a few anxious moments at the start of the innings. Most of them, though, were centered around whether or not a quick single was available after opening the face of his bat towards point. The key there was that he was looking for runs and that mentality often allows a batsman to settle quicker at the crease. The feet begin to move both ways. Gaps can be exploited better. And boundary balls can be capitalised on more often than not.

Rahul finished with seven fours and a six and his strike-rate of 86.95 was comfortably the best for any batsman who had played more than one ball on the day. A resounding endorsement for India's future and vindication for the selectors who chose a very new-look squad for the tour. Of the other debutants, Karun Nair fell for 7 and legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal picked up 1 for 27 in 10 overs.

Inexperience being a weakness is among the few opinions that unite captains, cricket experts and the general public. But it isn't like a player on debut is a readymade liability. That depends on the amount of pressure the opposition puts on him. Strangling his runs, or upsetting his bowling rhythm, and generally giving him a little more to think about than the basics. Take India's bowling attack - Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah and Barinder Sran had 12 ODIs under their belt. They were outstanding on Saturday, but when Zimbabwe had to wait until No. 6 to find their top-scorer and their strongest partnership contributed only 38 runs, it is arguable that they also had it easy.

India's batsmen were also not put under pressure, with the required rate to win a 50-over match at about three an over. Tendai Chatara and Taurai Muzarabani were rather short with the new ball. A measure of how unthreatening that made them was the part-time medium pacer Chamu Chibhabha pitched it up and therefore made it swing it both ways to finish with 8-1-14-0. He beat Ambati Rayudu thrice in one over, but Zimbabwe could not maintain the intensity and Rayudu helped himself to a half-century simply by deciding to not get out. He needed 120 balls to make 62.

All 16 members of the Indian squad have played the IPL. An overwhelming majority were involved in the 2016 edition, which captain MS Dhoni pointed to as one of the mitigating factors. He was leading an inexperienced side, but they were match-ready. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, were reliant on a two-week camp prior to the start of the series to dust off the rust. Their last domestic match of the year was in March.

Having been put in, their batsmen did not move their feet quickly enough, which wasn't ideal at 9 am. When it is that early in the day, especially in the Harare winter, the new ball tends to jag around.

Sran, the left-arm quick, was eyeing a wicket off the first ball he bowled on Saturday. An inswinger, full of length and given every opportunity to move through the air, had Chibhabha falling over while he tried to flick it through midwicket. Umpire Russell Tiffin turned that lbw appeal down, but could not deny Sran later in the over when he pinned the other opener Peter Moor in front of the stumps.

Bumrah posed a different threat. His powerful arm action and a tendency to hit the deck contributed to extra bounce, even off a good length. Besides that, as his dismissal of Chibhabha proved, the angle and pace he generates into the right-hander often puts the stumps at risk. He finished with 4 for 28 off 10 overs.

As such, Zimbabwe's decision to save wickets rather than scour for runs had merit. They consumed 46 dot balls in the Powerplay. But biding time in limited-overs cricket makes sense only if the batsmen to follow can execute their shots.

Vusi Sibanda nicked a short and wide delivery from Bumrah in the 20th over. Craig Ervine picked out deep midwicket when he was presented with a long hop from left-arm spinner Axar Patel in the 24th. Even Sikandar Raza, one of only two batsmen to face more than 50 deliveries, ushered a ball that was there for the drive back onto his stumps.


Zimbabwe limed past 100 and got to 168 through Elton Chigumbura's 41 off 65 balls. His progress - and the final four wickets lingering on for nearly 15 overs - indicated the pitch had eased out in the afternoon and had Zimbabwe channeled better intent, they might have lived up to their interim coach Makhaya Ntini's threat of putting second-string teams "under the carpet" a little better.


2nd ODI

Zimbabwe 126 (34.3 ov)
India 129/2 (26.5 ov)
India won by 8 wickets (with 139 balls remaining)

Win toss, put opposition in, bowl opposition out cheaply, chase with minimal fuss. India ticked off those boxes once again and won the three-match ODI series after going 2-0 up, with a generous helping hand from Zimbabwe, whose shot selection contributed to an utterly inadequate total of 126. It took India only 26.5 overs to chase it down, and while they will no doubt be gladdened by their second-string team's successes, they will wonder when their batsmen will be genuinely tested on this tour.

KL Rahul, fresh off a debut hundred in the first match, and Karun Nair - who profited from an early life when he edged a no-ball from Tendai Chatara to the wicketkeeper - eased their way to attractive 30s, and Ambati Rayudu, batting with more freedom than in the first game, struck seven fours in an unbeaten 44-ball 41. But India will have learned nothing new about them - the target simply wasn't enough of a challenge.

Zimbabwe had looked set for a respectable total after Vusi Sibanda and Sikandar Raza added 67 for the fourth wicket, but both fell to suicidal shots, triggering a collapse that saw the last six wickets fall for 20 runs, in the space of 9.1 overs.

Zimbabwe's misery was compounded by Sean Williams' absence from the batting crease. Having replaced Craig Ervine - who was out with a hamstring strain - Williams hurt his finger soon after the toss, and had to undergo scans to ascertain the extent of his injury.

Zimbabwe had looked so secure at 106 for 3, but everything changed in little more than half an hour. Sibanda had just reached his 21st ODI fifty, bringing up the landmark with a trademark pulled four off left-arm spinner Axar Patel. Raza was looking far from fluent, but the partnership was flourishing, and more than half the innings still remained. He chose that moment, off the second ball of the 26th over, to try and take on the fielder at long-on as Yuzvendra Chahal was gifted a wicket.

Chahal's next ball was a perfectly pitched legbreak, drifting into Elton Chigumbura and causing him to misread the line as he prodded forward to defend. It looked a tight lbw decision, but replays showed the ball had pitched in line with leg stump and had turned enough to hit middle and leg.

In Chahal's next over, Sibanda slogged at a loopy, wide legbreak, and just like Raza had done, picked out the fielder at long-on. Until that point, he had channelled all the qualities that had won him more than 100 ODI caps - the elegance, the range of strokes - and with that one shot, he now demonstrated the recklessness that has made him one of Zimbabwe cricket's most frustrating figures.

The end came swiftly. Jasprit Bumrah, who had bowled a superb opening spell, repeatedly beating the outside edge with balls that straightened after angling into the right-handers, had Richmond Mutumbami caught behind off the inside-edge, Dhawal Kulkarni swung one past Tendai Chatara's flick to take the off stump, and Axar speared in an arm ball to strike Muzarabani's pad right in front. That was Zimbabwe's ninth and last wicket: it fell with 15.3 overs still to play.

India had bowled Zimbabwe out for 168 in the first ODI, and their seamers made another impressive start on a chilly Monday morning, taking three wickets in the first ten overs. Barinder Sran bowled a few inches shorter than he had on Saturday, and didn't generate quite as much swing, but picked up two wickets nonetheless. Hamilton Masakadza chased a wide, non-swinging ball and sliced it into third man's hands, and Peter Moor, for the second time in a row, played around his front pad as the ball bent into him. This time, he was struck above the knee roll, and on the hop, but the umpire Russell Tiffin did not hesitate to give him out.


Chamu Chibhabha ensured he minimised the chance of lbw against Sran, batting with a slightly open stance, and looked largely comfortable against the left-armer. But he had no answer to a variation from Kulkarni that was either elaborately plotted or entirely unintended. Having sent down five away-swingers, the bulk of them short and fairly wide of off stump, and dragged Chibhabha across his crease, he trapped him with the fuller, straighter inducker.


3rd ODI

Zimbabwe 123 (42.2 ov)
India 126/0 (21.5 ov)
India won by 10 wickets (with 169 balls remaining)

Zimbabwe consumed 32 overs in establishing a foundation, only for it to come tumbling down when they lost four wickets in four balls. India didn't lose those many over the series, which they took 3-0 as MS Dhoni equalled Allan Border's record of 107 wins to become the second most-successful ODI captain behind Ricky Ponting.

The gulf in skill between the two sides was extremely stark. While one struggled to find a batsman who could produce a substantial innings, the other had rookies contributing heavily. KL Rahul, the first Indian ever to score a hundred on debut, made an unbeaten 63 on Wednesday. The 30-year old Faiz Fazal, the oldest Indian ODI debutant in 16 years, celebrated the occasion by hitting 55 off 61 balls and sealing the victory with an imperious pull for four.

There were 169 balls and 10 wickets remaining when India breezed past a target of 124. The three wickets they did give up to secure the whitewash was the fewest any team had lost in a three-match series.

Zimbabwe had won the toss and opted to bat on a pitch that was hard, true and excellent for strokeplay. Yet their top order bored the home crowd by playing 81 dots in the first 102 balls before the first drinks break. And it seemed like that was the plan. They wanted to save wickets, only to lose four in four balls. They hoped to make up for the dilly-dallying in the later overs, only to be bowled out with 7.4 overs to spare. Forget India, even irony was thumping Zimbabwe.

Jasprit Bumrah lit the fuse for the hosts' latest implosion. He hit the deck and hustled the Zimbabwe batsmen for pace. Zimbabwe were 102 for 3 when he began the 33rd over, then 104 for 7 in the 34th, and 19 runs later, all out. Bumrah finished with 4 for 22, his second four-for in three ODIs.

Timycen Maruma, playing his first ODI in nearly two years, was the first to go in the collapse. He was too slow bringing his bat down and Bumrah had his off stump cartwheeling. Next, the 22-year old fast bowler showed he could get the ball to straighten too and had Elton Chigumbura caught behind for his second successive golden duck. It was MS Dhoni's 350th dismissal in ODIs. That wicket ended the 33rd over.

Off the first ball of the next one, Malcolm Waller dabbed Axar Patel into the covers and set off for what should have been a straightforward single. Except Richmond Mutumbami didn't see it that way and sold his partner down the river. Captain Graeme Cremer was handed a golden duck as well when he played back to the left-arm spinner's arm ball.

Until those few minutes, the match was going along at a sleepy pace. Chamu Chibhabha and Vusi Sibanda refused to take even the slightest risk. The eighth over ended with a glorious, on-the-up cover drive. The ninth began with an off drive that screamed intent. But besides that the two batsmen did precious little to push the Indian bowlers. The next boundary did not come until the 25th over, after that partnership of 36 runs in 88 balls had been broken.

Perhaps Zimbabwe were dissuaded from strokeplay by what had happened to Hamilton Masakadza. His wild slash in the sixth over settled in the hands of Rahul at first slip. Sibanda could have been caught for a duck in the next one had Yuzvendra Chahal not grassed a skier at midwicket. Worried by the amount of chances India were creating, Zimbabwe simply shut down in the first half of their innings.

But that played into India's hands. Axar was finishing an over in almost 60 seconds and Chahal was bowling with great deal of control and guile. He mixed his pace and his length - but never his line, that stayed firmly on middle and off. He tossed the ball up, but the revs he put on it ensured it would always dip before batsman's front foot could reach it. Sibanda was worked over in this manner - sucked forward and, because of the drift inward, tempted into playing with the closed face. The leading edge was taken and Chahal completed the catch.


Bumrah took care of the last specialist batsman Mutumbami with another ball that straightened off the seam in the 35th over. The tailenders Donald Tiripano, Neville Madziva and Tawanda Mupariwa couldn't mount a fight either and were back on the field for the second innings before the lunch break.


1st T20I: 


Zimbabwe 170/6 (20/20 ov)
India 168/6 (20/20 ov)
Zimbabwe won by 2 runs

The shorter the contest, the tighter the contest. Zimbabwe, outclassed in all three ODIs, pulled off their second successive 20-over win over India, shading a match of exceedingly tiny margins by two runs to go 1-0 up in the T20I series. It came down to MS Dhoni and what he could do with the last ball, as it has so many times in his career. India needed four, and Neville Madziva bowled a wide slower ball. Dhoni, jumping across to reach it, slapped it wide of deep point, but could not generate enough power to beat the fielder. He simply moved a few yards to his right and kept India's captain to a single.

In only his seventh T20I, Madziva had made a decisive last-over intervention. In Mirpur last November, he had hit 6, 2, 4, 6 off Nasir Hossain when Zimbabwe had needed 18 off five balls to beat Bangladesh.

Now, he was defending eight off the last over. India had needed 14 off seven balls when Donald Tiripano missed his yorker by a few inches. Axar Patel cleared the fielder at long-off.

Second ball of the final over, Madziva bowled a similar delivery, overpitched, and Axar played a similar shot. This time he picked out the fielder. That brought it down to seven off four. Madziva bowled a pinpoint wide yorker, and Dhoni could not beat the fielder at extra cover. At other times, he may have declined the single. He took it, and left Rishi Dhawan, one of five T20I debutants in India's XI, on strike for the first time with six to get off three balls.

Dhawan couldn't make any connection with Madziva's wide yorker, or with the wide slower ball that followed. The equation should have said six off one at this point, but Russell Tiffin signalled wide - even though it was well within reach of Dhawan, who had moved a long way across - and it said five off two instead. Dhawan scrambled a single and brought Dhoni back on strike, but there was little he could do with Madziva's calmly executed slower ball. Dhoni finished on 19 off 17 balls. His approach could be seen as questionable, but his approach had brought his team's task down to 8 off the last over, and most would have backed India to win in that situation.

That Zimbabwe set India a target that remained so tantalisingly out of reach was down to one man, Elton Chigumbura, who struck seven sixes in an unbeaten 26-ball 54, and was the prime reason for Zimbabwe scoring 59 off their last five overs.

When Chigumbura came to the crease, they were 98 for 4 in 13.1 overs. They had just lost two wickets in the space of three balls, and those wickets were of Malcolm Waller and Sikandar Raza, who had added 47 for the third wicket in 34 balls. It was a situation reminiscent of the second and third ODIs, when Zimbabwe had reached positions of reasonable promise - 106 for 3 and 104 for 3 - only to collapse spectacularly. Chigumbura had made golden ducks in both those matches.

But this was a new day, and a different format, which would give him the freedom to play his shots straightaway. He had only faced five balls when a no-ball from Yuzvendra Chahal gave him the maximum possible freedom. Chahal sent down a quicker ball at 115kph, but it had width on it, and Chigumbura, all still head and stable base, freed his arms to flat-bat it over the long-off boundary.

Chigumbura hit two more sixes off Chahal in his next over, the 17th, and, as if to show his method could be applied just as well against the quicker bowlers, two off Jaydev Unadkat in the 19th. The first of these hit the roof of the stadium and bounced over it.

Jasprit Bumrah had been the best of India's bowlers, conceding only 10 off his first three overs, but Chigumbura wouldn't spare him either, when he came back to bowl the final over. Taking a big step back to use the depth of his crease, he managed just enough elevation off a low full-toss to clear long-off, and then kept a close eye on a slower ball to mow it high over midwicket to bring up his half-century.

India's new-look batting line-up was facing its first proper test of the tour. The chase began badly. KL Rahul, a bundle of nerves in a low-scoring Test debut, had made an unbeaten hundred on his ODI debut. He only lasted one ball on T20I debut, chopping Tiripano on. India lost their second wicket at the end of the Powerplay - but not before Mandeep Singh, another debutant, and Ambati Rayudu had struck eight fours in a partnership of 44.

The boundaries were harder to come by without field restrictions, and the required rate had gone beyond 10 an over when India lost their fourth wicket, Kedar Jadhav playing on while trying to slog Taurai Muzarabani, in the 13th over. That was when Dhoni walked in.

Dhoni and Manish Pandey kept India on course with hard running - they ran six twos and another off a wide - punctuated by boundary hits, including successive Pandey sixes off Graeme Cremer's legspin, to add 53 in 30 balls. Pandey's dismissal - slicing a full, wide ball from Muzarabani wider than intended - in the 18th over left India needing 28 from 16, and Axar's hitting brought it down to eight off the last over. They had all but won it, but they ran into a last-over specialist.


2nd T20I

Zimbabwe 99/9 (20/20 ov)
India 103/0 (13.1/20 ov)
India won by 10 wickets (with 41 balls remaining)

"Kuch mat karna [Don't do anything]," screamed MS Dhoni. Zimbabwe were 57 for 5 at the time and they were gifting their wickets away.

Left-arm fast bowler Barinder Sran picked up three in a single over and recorded the second-best figures by a debutant in T20I cricket. His 4 for 10 sprung the trap on Zimbabwe, Jasprit Bumrah's 3 for 11 made sure they couldn't even think about escape and India levelled the series 1-1 with their first 10-wicket victory in T20 cricket.

If a team is kept to 99 for 9, it is common to think that conditions had been bowler-friendly. But a 1 pm start in Harare with not a cloud in sight reduced the chances of swing. The pitch was being used for a third time on the tour, which gave the team batting first a slight advantage. Zimbabwe gained that advantage when the coin fell in their favour. If they had put up a big enough total, the natural wear and tear of the surface could have made the chase that much more difficult.

Instead, Zimbabwe were 35 for 4 after the Powerplay on the same deck they had made 170 on only two days ago.

India gave the new ball to two debutants for a second time in as many matches and Sran made sure to extract as much as he could from it. Only one delivery in his first spell of three overs was pitched short.

His first wicket was excellently constructed. Zimbabwe could not find a single run off the bat in nine balls. Chamu Chibhabha came on strike. He had found eight of his 10 runs through boundaries. Sran sensed that the batsman would go for a release shot and bowled his offcutter. The batsman mistimed his swipe over mid-on and Ambati Rayudu snapped up an excellent catch over his shoulder while running towards the boundary.

Hamilton Masakadza got his first run off his seventh ball with a fearsome drive through the covers and moved into double figures with a thump down the ground. To the next ball he faced - an inswinger, pitching on a good length - he heaved across the line and lost his middle stump. Sran welcomed the new batsman Sikandar Raza with a wide slip and he obliged by steering his second ball to that fielder. Tinotenda Mutumbodzi fell for a golden duck, though replays indicated he was incorrectly adjudged lbw by umpire Russell Tiffin. The batsman was struck above the knee roll and Hawk-Eye suggested enough of the ball had pitched outside leg stump.

Nevertheless, Sran had three wickets in an over and Zimbabwe were on course for a terribly underwhelming performance. Not even one of their batsmen could reach a strike-rate of 100 - only the fourth time that has happened in T20I history.

Peter Moor, brought in for the injured Richmond Mutumbami, top-scored with 31 off 32 balls. His presence would have given Zimbabwe hope but Dhoni played a mean trick. Knowing the opposition was in recovery mode - in other words fearful of losing any more wickets - he called on his spinners to rush through the middle overs. Yuzvendra Chahal deceived an advancing Malcolm Waller in the flight, and refused Elton Chigumbura the leverage he so desperately wanted.

With the score at 73 for 5 after 14 overs, panic set in on Zimbabwe. India preyed on that by bringing back their premier fast bowler. Bumrah. Moor never saw the slower delivery coming and was caught at point, Chigumbura's stumps were bulldozed a few minutes later, and with all their specialist batsmen dismissed, the best Zimbabwe could do was play out the 20 overs. Bumrah, now, has 24 wickets in 2016 - the most by any bowler this year.


The chase was straightforward. Mandeep Singh cruised to his maiden T20I fifty, but he could have been caught in the fifth over if Malcolm Waller, rushing forward from deep square leg, and Taurai Muzarabani, running back from short fine leg, had communicated better. In the end the ball fell between them and trickled for four. The India opener offered another chance on 22 when he pulled straight to Donald Tiripano, the fielder on the square leg boundary, who parried over the rope for six. It was just that kind of day for Zimbabwe. They struggled with the basics from start to very early finish.


3rd T20I

India 138/6 (20/20 ov)
Zimbabwe 135/6 (20/20 ov)

India won by 3 runs

Zimbabwe had never won a T20I series of more than one match. A chase of 139 presented them an opportunity to achieve this, and a nervy final over from Barinder Sran brought them to within one hit of victory. But Elton Chigumbura, with four needed off the last ball, could only manage enough power and elevation to hit a low, wide full-toss into extra-covers' hands. India, never quite convincing, won by three runs and took the series 2-1.

Until this match, Sran had impressed with his new-ball swing, but had never really come under pressure. Now, India were bowling second for the first time on the tour, and were defending 138. A number of Zimbabwe's batsmen had got off to starts, but no one had carried on. They now needed 21 off the last over, with Timycen Maruma and Chigumbura at the crease, both batting on 12. Maruma had shaved six off the target with a massive leg-side clout off Jasprit Bumrah in the penultimate over.

Now Sran sent down a length ball, and Maruma, clearing his front leg once again, clobbered it over the midwicket boundary. Then Sran brought square leg and fine leg into the circle, and, in looking to deny Maruma the scoop over the infield, slanted the ball too wide outside off stump. The pressure was firmly on, and a high full-toss followed, providing width for a slap to the cover boundary. No-ball, nine runs to get off five balls, free hit to come.

It was at this point that Sran pulled his death-bowling skills together, sending down three successive wide yorkers, all there or thereabouts: dot, dot, single. Eight to get off two, and Chigumbura ran down the pitch, slogged, and streaked a lucky edge to the third man boundary.

The situation was something like the first ODI of India's tour to Zimbabwe last year; then it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowling to Chigumbura with six to get off the last ball. Chigumbura could only get a single, unable to get any elevation on a yorker despite batting on 103 at the time. Sran couldn't quite nail his yorker, but his full-toss was low enough to deny Chigumbura and Zimbabwe.

That India had 138 to defend was down to Kedar Jadhav, who scored 58 off 42 balls - his first half-century in T20Is - to lift a batting line-up that got into early trouble on a pitch with decidedly low bounce and inconsistent pace: some balls stopped, some skidded, and the batsmen came to realise that a stump-to-stump line was rather difficult to score against. When Jadhav walked in, India were 27 for 3, with Manish Pandey's first-ball run-out adding to the early loss of both openers.

Jadhav added 49 with Ambati Rayudu for the fourth wicket at exactly a run a ball. Both batsmen were kept quiet by the conditions and Zimbabwe's use of them, before Rayudu ran down the pitch, got too far from Graeme Cremer's legbreak, and holed out to long-on. Neville Madziva and Tendai Chatara followed that up with three quiet overs, conceding only 15, and Donald Tiripano profited from the pressure built by his seam-bowling comrades, MS Dhoni slogging across the line and inside-edging onto the stumps. In the process, a bail flew into Dhoni's helmet and hit him close to his right eye; when India fielded, the backroom staff came on at regular intervals to administer eye drops.

At 93 for 5 in the 17th over, India seemed to be losing their way a bit, but Jadhav took charge in the next over, jumping out to Chatara to hit his first ball for a clean, straight six, and then staying back to one just short of yorker length to carve it to the point boundary. Jadhav ended the over with an inside-edged flick onto his pad which ran away to the fine-leg boundary to bring up his half-century.

Tiripano, mixing up his pace well, dismissed Jadhav in the 19th over, but Axar Patel carried the momentum forward into the last over, launching Madziva for six over long-off. It wasn't the biggest total, but Zimbabwe would need to bat well to get 139 on this pitch.

They did this, in spurts, always staying on course, but losing wickets with enough frequency to keep India in the game. Vusi Sibanda, who replaced Sikandar Raza in Zimbabwe's XI, came in at No. 3 and gave them early impetus, hitting Dhawal Kulkarni for two straight fours either side of a slap to the cover boundary, all in the fourth over. By the end of the fifth, they were 38 for 1.

Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel and the spread-out post-Powerplay fields quietened Zimbabwe, and Hamilton Masakadza, who had moved to 15 off 20, was trapped lbw by Axar's left-arm spin in the ninth over, trying to sweep a stump-to-stump ball. Kulkarni then had his revenge against Sibanda when he nipped one back to catch him falling over, and Zimbabwe, at 60 for 3 in the 11th over, had to start all over again.

Yuzvendra Chahal eased the pressure with frequent long-hops. Sibanda had already pulled him for four; now Peter Moor clubbed him for sixes in the 12th and 14th overs, and followed up with another, lofting a flighted ball cleanly over extra-cover. But he fell in the same over, and with Bumrah and Axar coming back for three more tight overs, Zimbabwe were left needing 35 off the last three.


Bumrah then pulled off a stunning, leaping catch at short third man to dismiss Malcolm Waller, whose uppercut off Kulkarni had looked destined to go for four, and Maruma and Chigumbura only managed three off that over. Maruma's heaved six off Bumrah kept Zimbabwe in the game, just about, setting the stage for the tour's dramatic conclusion.