HARARE: A measured half century from opener Chamu Chibhabha propelled Zimbabwe to their first ever Twenty20 victory over former world champions India by 10 runs at Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

After electing to bat, Zimbabwe posted 145-7 in their 20 overs, with Chibhabha’s career-best 67 from 51 balls the major contributor.

India made a fast start in reply but lost momentum after losing three wickets in nine balls to finish on 135 for nine from their allotted overs.

The result allowed the hosts to tie the series 1-1.

Chibhabha struck nine fours, with no other Zimbabwe batsman reaching 20.

Robin Uthappa looked as though he was leading India to a series win when he raced to 42 from 25 balls but the tourists slumped to 61 for four when he was caught and bowled by Sean Williams.

Leg-break bowler Graeme Creamer was the pick of the home bowlers as he picked up three for 18 in his four overs.

Stand-in captain Sikandar Raza said the victory was a much-needed shot in the arm for the home side, coming less than 24 hours after Prosper Utseya’s letter alleging racism against Zimbabwe Cricket managing director Alistair Campbell was made public.

Utseya, though, despite this retained his place in the team.

Zimbabwe had lost all three One-day Internationals to India as well as the first Twenty20 game, but looked re-energised under the leadership of Sikandar, who took the reins in the place of the injured Elton Chigumbura.

“We didn’t care what the news was,” Sikandar said of the Utseya letter. “All we wanted to do was just go out there and prove a point, and that is that we can win a game.”

Scoreboard

ZIMBABWE:

H. Masakadza c Uthappa b S. Sharma 19

C.J. Chibhabha b Kumar 67

Sikandar Raza c Samson b M.M. Sharma 8

S.C. Williams c and b Patel 17

C.K. Coventry lbw b Binny 4

C.R. Ervine b Kumar 7

M.N. Waller not out 6

P. Utseya c Patel b M.M. Sharma 1

A.G. Cremer not out 0

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-1, W-9, NB-1) 16

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs) 145

FALL OF WKTS: 1-28, 2-48, 3-85, 4-113, 5-132, 6-139, 7-142.

DID NOT BAT: C.B. Mpofu, T. Muzarabani.

BOWLING: Kumar 4-0-26-2 (3w); S. Sharma 4-0-39-1 (1nb, 2w); Binny 2-0-14-1; M.M. Sharma 4-0-28-2; Vijay 2-0-9-0; Patel 4-0-23-1.

INDIA:

A.M. Rahane run out 4

M. Vijay b Cremer 13

R.V. Uthappa c and b Williams 42

M.K. Pandey lbw b Cremer 0

K.M. Jadhav run out 5

S.T.R. Binny c Chibhabha b Cremer 24

S.V. Samson c Waller b Mpofu 19

A.R. Patel c Williams b Muzarabani 13

B. Kumar run out 9

M.M. Sharma not out 3

S. Sharma not out 1

EXTRAS (B-1, W-1) 2

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 135

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-57, 3-57, 4-61, 5-69, 6-105, 7-117, 8-124, 9-131.

BOWLING: Utseya 3-0-18-0 (1w); Muzarabani 3-0-23-1; Mpofu 3-0-26-1; Chibhabha 1-0-9-0; Williams 4-0-31-1; Cremer 4-0-18-3; Sikandar Raza 2-0-9-0.

UMPIRES: R.B. Tiffin and L. Rusere (both Zimbabwe).

TV UMPIRE: T.J. Matibiri (Zimbabwe).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Chamu Chibhabha.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Chamu Chibhabha.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2015

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