India 1-145 (Suresh Raina 65*, Rohit Sharma 64*, Tendai Chatara 1-31) beat Zimbabwe 144 (Elton Chigumbura 50*, Malcolm Waller 35, Amit Mishra 3-25) by nine wickets.
The strong Indian side, led by Amit Mishra, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma, swallowed the minnows Zimbabwe while beating the hosts all ends up in the 4th ODI.
Zimbabwe was bowled out for 144 mere runs in 42.4 overs and India powered 1-145 in just 30.5 overs.
Mohit Sharma (India) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his economical bowling spell of 2-26 after 10 overs in his debut game.
The fourth One Day International of the five match series was played on Thursday, August 1, 2013, at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo.
Earlier, Virat Kohli, the skipper of India, won the toss and put the hosts in to bat first. The home side lost their first wicket at 16 as Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza got together in the center. The latter hit the first six of the innings in the 10th over but was run out for 10 in the next one. The Men in Blue penetrated through the middle order batting of the hosts and Vusi Sibanda became the fifth victim at 47 in 15.1 overs for 24 runs. Malcolm Waller and Elton Chigumbura tried to bring some respect to the total and kept on creeping.
Waller hit his first boundary on the 36th ball he faced and Chigumbura got his 3rd four in the 29th over. The first hundred of the innings was posted three overs later and the batsmen added 11 runs in the 36th over with 1 six and 1 four. The partnership was broken at 127 in 36.6 overs when Malcolm Waller was caught behind by Dinesh Karthik off Mohit Sharma for 35 from 77 balls with 1 six and 3 fours. The lower order batting crumbled against the quality bowling of the tourists as Elton Chigumbura attained his 15th ODI fifty in the 43rd over. He remained unbeaten for 50 off 66 with 4 fours while the innings of the entire Zimbabwe side was folded back for 144 with 7.2 overs to spare.
Amit Mishra was the highest wicket taker with three, Mohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja shared two each whereas Mohammed Shami and Jaydev Unadkat claimed one wicket each.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma started off slowly for India by scoring 23 runs in 9 overs. Pujara was clean bowled by Tendai Chatara for 13 and was replaced by Suresh Raina as Sharma hit a couple of fours in the 13th over. The duo picked up the run rate and the ball was dispatched out of the rope frequently. The score went past the hundred runs mark in the 26th over as Rohit Sharma smashed his 18th ODI half century on the fourth ball of the following over.
Suresh Raina reached his 29th ODI fifty two balls later and added another 11 runs in the 30th over with 2 fours. Sharma hit 1 six and 1 four in the next one and the target was achieved after hammering 145 with 19.1 overs still in hand. Rohit Sharma secured his end for 64 off 90 deliveries with 1 six and 5 fours whereas Suresh Raina was at the other end at 65 off 71 comprising 6 fours.
India clinched the fourth One Day International by a vast margin of nine wickets and leads the five match series 4-0. The fifth and final game will be held at the same venue on August 3, 2013.
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