The first game of the three match ODI series between India and Zimbabwe saw its commencement at the Harare Cricket Club on Saturday. A fairly inexperienced Indian team made up of three debutants took on the close to full strength Zimbabwe team. M.S Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first as the pitch had a bit of moisture in it which would help the new ball swing around.

Dhawal Kulkarni and Barinder Sran started proceedings for Team India with the new ball and it seemed that the decision to bowl first was a good one. Both the bowlers made it difficult for the Zimbabwe batsmen to score runs with their disciplined line and length which accounted for 2 wickets in the first 10 overs. Jasprit Bumrah was introduced as first change and he posed a different threat all together to the batsmen with his power action and the angle created to the right as well the left handed batsmen. Bumrah was hitting the deck hard which contributed to extra bounce and thus ended up with figures of 4 wickets in 9.5 overs which include 2 maidens giving away just 28 runs. The spinners Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal too came in handy. They spun the web around the batsmen giving away just 53 runs in their 20 overs picking 1 wicket each. A disciplined and aggressive bowling performance by the Indian team meant that Zimbabwe could only score 168 as they bundled in 49.5 overs.

After a good bowling performance it was now time for the batsmen to show their mantle chasing 169. It was after 40 years that the Indian team opened their batting with two debutants K.L Rahul and Karun Nair. The openers got off to a nervous start as Karun Nair fell early in the 5th over scoring just 7 of 20 balls. Ambati Rayudu was sent one down to bat and his job was to weave a partnership with K.L Rahul and take the Indian team over the line. The Zimbabwean bowlers however displayed a good bowling performance beating the outside edge of both the batsmen regularly. The duo however got the basics right and showed good resilience and patience. K.L Rahul went on to score 100* (115) his maiden ODI century on debut which made him the first Indian opener to do so. Ambati Rayudu on the other hand did what he does best, he provided support and held onto one end scoring 62* (120) which eased the pressure off Rahul. Though he was too circumspect initially with the ball zipping around but as the game progressed he came in terms with the conditions and played beautifully.

All in all a four wicket haul by Jasprit Bumrah, an excellent batting display by K.L Rahul and a calm and supportive innings by Ambati Rayudu help India beat Zimbabwe by 9 wickets.