India’s 62-run victory over Zimbabwe in the second ODI at Harare on Sunday was a job well done. It may have been a dominant win on paper but it wasn’t an emphatic one on the field. It was a lesson in caution and consolidation.
Unlike the first ODI, the result was one befitting a contest between countries at the opposite end of the spectrum: Second-ranked India scored a respectable 271/8 and bundled out 11th-ranked Zimbabwe for 209.
Ajinkya Rahane’s men have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in a tricky series that has been conquered more by grind rather than with aplomb. After a major scare in the opening match and a flurry of negatives to focus on, Sunday’s performance at least showed that lessons were being learned.
It was fitting too that Murali Vijay, India’s first-choice Test opener and an ODI struggler, was the poster boy of a pragmatic win. He earned the Man of the Match award for a patiently-crafted 75, which was scored at a strike rate of just 75.78, much to the chagrin of supporters.
Why India needed pragmatism
With high-scoring matches and thrill-a-minute pyrotechnics forming (or spoiling) the taste buds of cricket’s younger generation of supporters, pragmatism and the idea behind it isn’t readily appreciated. However, it was a logical part of India’s game plan.
Zimbabwe’s disciplined pacers are a force to be reckoned with early on and needed to be given due respect, while India’s middle-order collapse in the first match (they were reduced to 87/5 inside 25 overs) meant a solid start was imperative to lay a strong foundation for the innings.
Vijay and Rahane did exactly that, but not in popular fashion. This time around India did not lose a single wicket before the halfway mark. A 112-run opening partnership in 26 overs didn’t win either of the openers any new fans, but they accomplished what they set out to do for the team.
Ambati Rayudu’s dig-in-deep hundred in the opening match had showed the way to counter conditions at Harare. The duo of Rahane and Vijay followed suit. They hit only four boundaries in the opening 10 overs. Vijay’s first came in the 10th over (though he hit two glorious sixes later on) and his maiden ODI fifty was brought up in 81 balls. Rahane, on the other hand, achieved the milestone in 73 balls. A snooze-fest for most; strategy and intelligence for others.
Neither went on to score a ton but laid a solid foundation and lessened the pressure on the rest. Rayudu and Manoj Tiwary gradually upped the run rate with a partnership of 44 off 51 balls before both fell in the process of accelerating late in the innings.
India lost six wickets for 77 runs in the final 10 overs without a single shot clearing the ground, which further drove in the importance of the opening-wicket stand.
A flawed fielding performance
On the field, Rahane led from the front although his side produced a few embarrassing lapses. The skipper took a wondrous catch at slip to dismiss his counterpart Elton Chigumbura and followed it up with another catch and a couple of fabulous direct-hit run outs – one of which sent Zimbabwe’s top-scorer Chamu Chibhabha packing.
Vijay though followed up his potentially-fatal drop on the boundary in the first ODI by grassing an absolute sitter at slip. Fielding has become a key parameter in first-team selections and Vijay will always struggle to make the cut in this regard. Another chance went begging when Rahane, running backwards, nearly collided with the incoming Tiwary at cover.
Robin Uthappa, in true Robin Uthappa style, goofed up behind the stumps when he missed a straightforward stumping. Uthappa should hope that calls for him to open the batting come true since he doesn’t seem to have the wicketkeeping abilities to make the spot his own whenever MS Dhoni calls it a day. Uthappa needs to impress with his batting and scores of 0 and 13 thus far do not help his cause.
A swap between Rahane and Uthappa in the batting order makes sense for both. Rahane is an established opening batsman and India’s number one back-up opener. That won’t change. But he was recently dropped from the team for his inability to rotate strike as a middle-order player. It’s an aspect of his game he needs to work on to reclaim his spot and Uthappa, who has had loads of success as an opener for the Kolkata Knight Riders, could do with playing at the top.
Clever but not fiery bowling
Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s fantastic spell of 4-33 showed why he’s been the mainstay of Indian bowling attacks in recent times. Although he struggled in Bangladesh, Kumar’s swing and control is India’s favourite weapon at the top-end of the innings and at the death.
He was ably supported by the other bowlers, especially Harbhajan Singh (1/29) who appeared to be his wily-old self again. Only inept fielding prevented the veteran off-spinner from deservedly taking more than one wicket.
India’s unspectacular but clinical performance was encouraging in its execution. Going into Tuesday’s final ODI, new faces and batting-order permutations should be on the agenda. Manish Pandey and the two Sharmas, Mohit and Sandeep, must make their way into the line-up as the team seeks for more learning from the low-key tour.
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Unlike the first ODI, the result was one befitting a contest between countries at the opposite end of the spectrum: Second-ranked India scored a respectable 271/8 and bundled out 11th-ranked Zimbabwe for 209.
Ajinkya Rahane’s men have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in a tricky series that has been conquered more by grind rather than with aplomb. After a major scare in the opening match and a flurry of negatives to focus on, Sunday’s performance at least showed that lessons were being learned.
It was fitting too that Murali Vijay, India’s first-choice Test opener and an ODI struggler, was the poster boy of a pragmatic win. He earned the Man of the Match award for a patiently-crafted 75, which was scored at a strike rate of just 75.78, much to the chagrin of supporters.
Why India needed pragmatism
With high-scoring matches and thrill-a-minute pyrotechnics forming (or spoiling) the taste buds of cricket’s younger generation of supporters, pragmatism and the idea behind it isn’t readily appreciated. However, it was a logical part of India’s game plan.
Zimbabwe’s disciplined pacers are a force to be reckoned with early on and needed to be given due respect, while India’s middle-order collapse in the first match (they were reduced to 87/5 inside 25 overs) meant a solid start was imperative to lay a strong foundation for the innings.
Vijay and Rahane did exactly that, but not in popular fashion. This time around India did not lose a single wicket before the halfway mark. A 112-run opening partnership in 26 overs didn’t win either of the openers any new fans, but they accomplished what they set out to do for the team.
Ambati Rayudu’s dig-in-deep hundred in the opening match had showed the way to counter conditions at Harare. The duo of Rahane and Vijay followed suit. They hit only four boundaries in the opening 10 overs. Vijay’s first came in the 10th over (though he hit two glorious sixes later on) and his maiden ODI fifty was brought up in 81 balls. Rahane, on the other hand, achieved the milestone in 73 balls. A snooze-fest for most; strategy and intelligence for others.
Neither went on to score a ton but laid a solid foundation and lessened the pressure on the rest. Rayudu and Manoj Tiwary gradually upped the run rate with a partnership of 44 off 51 balls before both fell in the process of accelerating late in the innings.
India lost six wickets for 77 runs in the final 10 overs without a single shot clearing the ground, which further drove in the importance of the opening-wicket stand.
A flawed fielding performance
On the field, Rahane led from the front although his side produced a few embarrassing lapses. The skipper took a wondrous catch at slip to dismiss his counterpart Elton Chigumbura and followed it up with another catch and a couple of fabulous direct-hit run outs – one of which sent Zimbabwe’s top-scorer Chamu Chibhabha packing.
Vijay though followed up his potentially-fatal drop on the boundary in the first ODI by grassing an absolute sitter at slip. Fielding has become a key parameter in first-team selections and Vijay will always struggle to make the cut in this regard. Another chance went begging when Rahane, running backwards, nearly collided with the incoming Tiwary at cover.
Robin Uthappa, in true Robin Uthappa style, goofed up behind the stumps when he missed a straightforward stumping. Uthappa should hope that calls for him to open the batting come true since he doesn’t seem to have the wicketkeeping abilities to make the spot his own whenever MS Dhoni calls it a day. Uthappa needs to impress with his batting and scores of 0 and 13 thus far do not help his cause.
A swap between Rahane and Uthappa in the batting order makes sense for both. Rahane is an established opening batsman and India’s number one back-up opener. That won’t change. But he was recently dropped from the team for his inability to rotate strike as a middle-order player. It’s an aspect of his game he needs to work on to reclaim his spot and Uthappa, who has had loads of success as an opener for the Kolkata Knight Riders, could do with playing at the top.
Clever but not fiery bowling
Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s fantastic spell of 4-33 showed why he’s been the mainstay of Indian bowling attacks in recent times. Although he struggled in Bangladesh, Kumar’s swing and control is India’s favourite weapon at the top-end of the innings and at the death.
He was ably supported by the other bowlers, especially Harbhajan Singh (1/29) who appeared to be his wily-old self again. Only inept fielding prevented the veteran off-spinner from deservedly taking more than one wicket.
India’s unspectacular but clinical performance was encouraging in its execution. Going into Tuesday’s final ODI, new faces and batting-order permutations should be on the agenda. Manish Pandey and the two Sharmas, Mohit and Sandeep, must make their way into the line-up as the team seeks for more learning from the low-key tour.
