xtratime Logo

  [caption id="attachment_16331" align="alignnone" width="580"] KL Rahul scored 63* of 70 balls. Twitter[/caption] Internet Desk: Zimbabwe consumed 32 overs in establishing a foundation and it came tumbling down when they lost four wickets in four balls. India didn't lose that many over the entire series; a series which they took 3-0. KL Rahul was the first Indian ever to score a hundred on debut. He made an unbeaten 63 on Wednesday. The 30-year old Faiz Fazal, simply by being in the XI, collected a record - the oldest Indian debutant in ODIs 16 years - and celebrated it by hitting 55 off 61 balls and sealing the victory with a pulled 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 lowest any team has lost in a three-match series. And given a hard pitch with true bounce, Jasprit Bumrah 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. Former captain Elton Chigumbura was caught behind for his second successive golden duck. It was MS Dhoni's 350th dismissal in ODIs. That wicket ended the 33rd over. However, there wasn't much else to draw from the three matches as it was one rare series where only four batsmen -- namely openers Rahul, Karun Nair, Fazal (this match) and Ambati Rayudu -- got a decent hit in the middle. The entire middle-order -- skipper himself, Kedar Jadhav, and Manish Pandey (two balls) did not get a chance to bat thanks to the impressive effort by the bowlers led by Jasprit Bumrah with 9 wickets from 3 games. With only 124 to get, the Indian openers did not need to take any risks yet scored runs at a quick clip to finish off the formalities with minimum fuss. Left-handed Fazal looked elegant as he hit a few gorgeous shots through the cover as well as back past the bowler. Fazal lifted skipper and leg-spinner Graeme Cremer for a straight six. Earlier, Indian bowlers, led by Bumrah, engineered yet another batting collapse of Zimbabwe to dismiss them for a lowly 123 in 42.2 overs. It was a huge embarrassment for Zimbabwe who lost five wickets in a space of 11 deliveries with an addition of four runs in a match that turned out to be an action replay of the two earlier lopsided contests. Worse, four batsmen were dismissed in four consecutive deliveries, which also included a run-out. From 104 for 3 in 32.4 overs, Zimbabwe slumped to 108 for 8 in 34.3 overs as none of the home players showed any resilience in-front a disciplined Indian bowling attack. In fact, Zimbabwe lost 8 wickets for 34 runs after being in a relatively safe position of 89 for 2 in the 29th over. Bumrah was fast and also got vicious inward movement to end with figures of 4/22 in 10 overs while spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (2/25 in 8 overs) and Axar Patel (1/16 in 10 overs).