Mishra’s six sets up 5-0 sweep

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Zimbabwe 163 all out, Sean Williams 51, Hamilton Masakadza 32, Amit Mishra 6/48 India167/3, Ajinkya Rahane 50, Ravindra Jadeja 46, Kyle Jarvis 2/18

Zimbabwe 163 all out, Sean Williams 51, Hamilton Masakadza 32, Amit Mishra 6/48 India167/3, Ajinkya Rahane 50, Ravindra Jadeja 46, Kyle Jarvis 2/18

BY Vitalis Moyo

A six wicket haul from right arm leg-break bowler Amit Mishra concluded a 5-0 series whitewash for India, winning by seven wickets in the last match of the Celkom Mobile Cup one-day international (ODI) series yesterday at Queens Sports Club.

Mishra was given the man-of-the-match award picking up his career best with yesterday’s 6/48, finishing the tour as the leading wicket taker with 18 wickets having played all five matches in this series, equalling Javagal Srinath’s record for most wickets in a bilateral series.

Zimbabwe made four changes to their squad bringing in spin bowlers Tiycen Maruma, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Natsai M’shangwe and seamer Kyle Jarvis for Tendai Chatara, Michael Chinouya, Prosper Utseya and Sikandar Raza Butt.

The tourists won the toss and elected to field once again bowling out the hosts for 163 runs with 10,1 overs left in the innings, setting themselves up for another easy run chase which they did in just 34 overs.

Zimbabwe’s ghastly batting performance in this tour didn’t get better in their last game as wickets fell cheaply with Vusi Sibanda being sent for an early shower when he was caught behind Jaidev Unadkat’s last delivery in the fourth over for five runs.

Brendan Taylor was next for a duck after facing 11 deliveries when he was caught by Suresh Raina off Mohit Sharma’s delivery in the ninth over.

After the first mandatory power play, Zimbabwe had scored 24 runs and lost two wickets at 2,4 runs per over.

Maruma failed to make any meaningful contribution coming in at fourth as he was given out when he was caught behind by Dinesh Karthik off Mohammed Shami’s delivery in the 13th over, leaving Zimbabwe at 37 for 3.

Opener Hamilton Masakadza was bowled out by spinner Ravindra Jadeda after 15,1 over having scored 32 runs.

A flimsy shot from Malcom Waller saw him go for 5 runs with Mohit Sharma making a simple catch at mid on from Mishra’s delivery in the 23rd over.

The seventh wicket partnership of Sean Williams and Elton Chigumbura racked up 50 runs from 68 balls before it was broken by Mishra when he dismissed Chigumbura for 17 runs as well as Mutombadzi for four runs within the same over.

Williams managed to get his 14th ODI half century off 62 balls with six fours before he was later dismissed by Mishra’s delivery in the 36th over caught by Virat Kohli having added one run to his 50.

Mishra struck again to pick up his fifth and sixth wicket bowling out M’shangwe for 16 runs, dismissing Brian Vitori who was caught by Kohli to end Zimbabwe’s innings.

India got off to a disastrous start in their run chase with seamer Jarvis bowling out Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck in his fourth ball of the first over which ended as a maiden wicket.

After that early dismissal, India picked them up hitting the Zimbabwean bowlers with Taylor dropping Shikar Dhawan’s top edge shot for 32 runs in the 6th over off Vitori’s delivery just before the lunch break.

Upon resumption from the break, Taylor missed another chance to run out Ajinkya Rahane who was on seven runs in the seventh over before he went on to hit a half century off 66 balls before being bowled by Waller in the 28th over breaking a 71 run third wicket partnership.

Jarvis dismissed Dhawan in the 11th over for 41runs when he was caught behind by Taylor but India cruised through to complete a series whitewash.

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