Zimbabwe vs India 2022: 1st ODI – Who Said What

The cricketing action got kicked off once again for India with the Zimbabwe tour wherein the first ODI took place at Harare Sports Club on August 18. In absence of several mainstream players, a different lot got up together to bring the best for India by winning the opener by massive 10 wickets. KL Rahul called it right at the toss and chose to bowl first where his bowlers stood tall on the occasion and wrapped up the meek-looking home side on just 189 runs.

The top and middle order failed terribly for Zimbabwe with only Regis Chakabva, Brad Evans, and Richard Ngarava chipping in with 35, 33, and 34 runs respectively. Deepak Chahar, who had his game time after six months, showed no signs of rusting and rattled the hosts’ top order by clinching three wickets. Prasidh Krishna and Axar Patel were no less on the day as their made presence felt loud and clear with three wickets each.

When it came for India to chase down the below-average score, they took no time to finish off things in a quick procession. Shubman Gill paired up with veteran Shikhar Dhawan at the top to make the target look pretty easy with some brilliant boundaries. Gill (82), and Dhawan (81) enjoyed all their time on the crease without disturbing other batters to push Men in Blue over the line in 31^st over itself.

Losing skipper, Regis Chakabva said:

The Indian bowlers bowled really well, put the pressure on us and we lost our way after the first 4-5 overs. It was good to see Richi (Ngarava) and Brad give us that partnership at the end. We needed to have one or two big partnerships, but it didn’t happen today. Our bowlers tried to come hard at them, but obviously they batted really well and took the game away from us. We will have a chat today, keep our heads up and bounce back strong on Saturday.

Winning skipper, KL Rahul said:

We do play a lot of cricket and injuries are going to be part of it. Being away from the game is really hard. It is a tough time and we worked together (me, Kuldeep and Deepak) in Bangalore. There was a bit of swing and seam movement as well, but it was good to see the bowlers stay disciplined and pick up those wickets. For a few of us, it is great to be back in the Indian dressing room. As a team we have been in good form, good to see that all of us are getting enough game time. Feels good to be out there.

Player of the match, Deepak Chahar said:

The landing was a little hard and when you play a international game after six and half months, obviously you will be a little nervous. Before coming here I played at least 4-5 practice games and the body and mind wasn’t working together in the first few overs, but it got better after that. I’m fine and the body is fine as well.