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HARARE, Sept 4: A century from Yuvraj Singh helped India to a four-wicket victory with 11 balls to spare in the triangular series one-day match against Zimbabwe on Sunday.
After India had collapsed to 36-4, Yuvraj smashed 120 off 124 deliveries to help the visitors reach 255 for six in reply to Zimbabwe’s 250 all out. Yuvraj struck 12 fours and a six over long-on.
With India already assured a place in Tuesday’s final against New Zealand, they decided to experiment with their line-up but only Virender Sehwag (12) among their top four batsmen managed to reach double figures.
India were struggling on 34 for three when Yuvraj came to the crease and they slipped into further trouble an over later when Mohammad Kaif was trapped lbw by Andy Blignaut.
Yuvraj steadily accumulated runs, initially putting on 55 off 91 deliveries for the fifth wicket with Venugopal Rao (27).
Yuvraj was then joined by wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The pair reeled in the almost all the required runs with a sixth-wicket stand of 158 off just 140 balls.
Dhoni finished 67 not out, lofting three sixes.
SCOREBOARD
ZIMBABWE:
V. Sibanda lbw b R.P. Singh 1
B.R.M. Taylor run out 26
H. Masakadza c and b R.P. Singh 0
T. Taibu b Yadav 71
C.K. Coventry c Kartik b Agarkar 74
A.M. Blignaut st Dhoni b Harbhajan 41
S. Williams run out 8
G.W. Ewing lbw b Kartik 7
N.B. Mahwire b Agarkar 2
P. Utseya b Agarkar 0
A.J. Ireland not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-13, W-4, NB-2) 19
TOTAL (all out, 50 overs) 250
FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-4, 3-50, 4-166, 5-227, 6-232, 7-246, 8-248, 9-249.
BOWLING: R.P. Singh 8-1-44-2 (3w); Agarkar 10-3-34–3; Yadav 9-1-44-1; Harbhajan Singh 10-0-39–1; Kartik 9-1-52-1; Ganguly 4-1-24-0 (2nb, 1w).
INDIA:
V. Sehwag b Mahwire 12
S.C. Ganguly c Sibanda b Ireland 2
Mohammad Kaif lbw b Blignaut 8
R. Dravid b Mahwire 6
Yuvraj Singh c Dabengwa b Blignaut 120
Venugopal Rao run out 27
M.S. Dhoni not out 67
J.P. Yadav not out 0
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-11, NB-1) 13
TOTAL (for six wkts, 48.1 overs) 255
FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-23, 3-34, 4-36, 5-91, 6-249.
DID NOT BAT: Harbhajan Singh, M. Kartik, A.B. Agarkar.
BOWLING: Mahwire 9.1-0-40-2 (1nb, 2w); Ireland 10-0-59-1 (5w); Blignaut 9-0-54-2 (3w); Ewing 5-0-23-0; Utseya 6-0-25–0; Williams 5-0-30–0; Dabengwa 4-0-23-0.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Yuvraj Singh.
FINAL: New Zealand v India at Harare on Tuesday.—Reuters
