India beats Zimbabwe by 9 wickets in Harare

Rahul hits ton on debut as India thrashed Zimbabwe by 9 wickets in the first ODI of the three match series today.

It was a dream debut for opener Lokesh Rahul as his attractive 100 not out enabled a new-look Indian team record a resounding nine-wicket victory over Zimbabwe.

Chasing a paltry target of 169, the Indian batsmen hardly broke sweat as they comfortably cruised home in 42.3 overs.

Playing his first ODI, Rahul completed his coveted three-figure landmark with a huge six over deep mid-wicket off seamer Hamilton Masakadza, when there was only two runs required to win the match.

He found an able ally in Ambati Rayudu (62 n.o.) as they added 162 runs in 38 overs for the unbroken second wicket partnership even though the Hyderabadi batsman was not at his fluent best.

When he reached 87, Rahul also became the highest individual scorer on debut eclipsing Robin Uthappa’s 86 against England on his ODI debut in Indore, back in 2006.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team were in complete control of the proceedings right from the start as the hosts never looked like putting up a fight during the course of the match, once they were put into bat.

Teams:

India: MS Dhoni(c and wk), Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Axar Patel, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Zimbabwe: AG Cremer (c), C Chibhabha, H Masakadza, R Mutumbami, V Sibanda, CR Ervine, Sikandar Raza, PJ Moor, E Chigumbura, T Muzarabani, TL Chatara.