Zimbabwe vs India, 3rd ODI Stats Review: Shubman Gill’s maiden international century, Sikandar Raza’s feat, and other stats

Shubman Gill and Sikandar Raza both smashed magnificent centuries for their respective sides in the third and the final ODI with India surviving Raza’s scare to clean sweep the Zimbabweans 3-0 in Harare. Gill struck his maiden international century as he scored 130 off 97 which included 15 fours and a six to help India in posting a big total of 289/8 in 50 overs. In reply, Raza finally hit form in the series as he yet again scored a ton in the run-chase but failed to take his side over the line this time around.

Talking about how the final encounter panned out, captain KL Rahul won the toss and opted to bat first. He amassed 30 while his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan got out for 40. Gill, with his excellent strokeplay, raced towards his first hundred in 82 deliveries. Ishan Kishan also played a good knock of 50 off 61. Brad Evans was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts as he took five wickets for just 54 runs in his ten overs.

Chasing 290, openers Tadukzwanashe Kaitano and Innocent Kaia mustered only 13 and six respectively while Sean Williams scored 45 off 46 with the help of seven fours. Raza, like in the recent Bangladesh series, kept the home side in the hunt of the run-chase and looked like winning the match again of his own.

With 17 required off the final two overs, Shardul Thakur got rid of the big fish for 115 to end the hopes for the Zimbabweans. Raza faced 95 balls and struck nine fours and three maximums. He couldn’t quite repeat his heroics as his team fell short by 13 runs. The tourists whitewashed Zimbabwe and also won their 15th consecutive match against them. For his spectacular ton, Shubman Gill grabbed the Player of the Match and also the Player of the Series award for 245 runs in three outings.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the 3^rd ODI between Zimbabwe and India:

 1 – Shubman Gill struck his maiden century in international cricket. His previous best score was 98* which also came in an ODI against West Indies this year.

1 – Sikandar Raza became the first player to smash three ODI centuries batting at no. five while chasing in a calendar year.

130 – Gill also registered the highest individual ODI score of 130 for India against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. The previous best was 127* by Sachin Tendulkar in the year 1998.

3 – Brad Evans recorded the third-best bowling figures of 5/54 for Zimbabwe against India in the 50-overs format. Heath Streak (5/32) and Eddo Brandes (5/41) both in 1997 are in the top two spots.

3 – Raza achieved the third-best individual score of 115 for Zimbabwe against India in the format. Andy Flower (145) in 2002 and Brendan Taylor (138) in 2015 occupy the first two spots.

15 – India recorded their 15th ODI victory against Zimbabwe on the trot. They have now also won 12 matches in a row in Harare.

3 – Regis Chakabva got dismissed to Axar Patel for the third time in one-day internationals, which is the joint-most he has been out against. Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah has also taken his wicket as many times.

3 – Raza is now joint-third with Grant Flower for slamming most centuries (6) for Zimbabwe. Brendan Taylor (11) and Alistair Campbell (7) are in the top two positions.

3 – Gill became the third Indian player to smash his maiden international hundred in Zimbabwe. Rohit Sharma and Kedar Jadhav, the other two, hit tons in an ODI in 2010 and 2015 respectively.

5 – Raza is now also tied with Taylor at the top for hitting most tons (5) for Zimbabwe at home.

50 – Richard Ngarava appeared in his 50th international match.

499 – Gill has now slammed the most ODI runs for India after 1st nine innings. Shreyas Iyer had scored 469 runs after as many innings.

112.50 – Gill has smashed 450 runs in his last six ODI innings at an average of 112.50 with one century and three half-centuries.