India Kapi(ta)lise on Zimbabwe’s inexperience

India made no changes to their playing eleven. Zimbabwe made one change to theirs – Vince Hogg made way for One-day (Rob)International debutant Brown. Put in to bat by India’s skipper, Kapil Dev, the African nation had just 13 runs on the board when they lost their first wicket. Ali Shah, who faced 32 balls, scored eight. His (K)i(rma)n(n)ings included a boundary. He was caught by Syed. Balvinder Singh Sandhu broke the stand.

The second-wicket stand was worth 42. Jack Heron, who faced 30 balls, scored 18. His innings included a couple of boundaries. He was caught by Kirmani off the bowling of Madan Lal. Grant, who faced 51 balls, scored 22. His innings included two boundaries. Lal trapped him leg before wicket, breaking the one-run Pa(r)t(erso)nership.

Andy, who faced 21 balls, scored (Pycro)f(our)teen. His innings included a boundary. He was caught by Ravi Shastri. Roger Binny broke the 15-run stand. Fletcher, the Zimbabwean (Dun)ca(ptai)n, faced 32 balls, scoring 13. Dev broke the 35-run stand.

Houghton, who faced 47 D(a)(eli)veries, scored 21. His innings included a boundary. He was caught by Kirmani. Lal broke the eight-run stand. Kevin, who faced 16 balls (Curr)and scored eight, was run out. The seventh-wicket stand was worth a run.

Butchart, whose 35-ball (Ia)innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 22. He was unbeaten. Brown, who scored six off 27 balls, was caught by Kirmani. Shastri broke the 24-run stand.

The (Kirma)ninth-wicket stand was worth nine. Peter Rawson who faced six balls, scored three. He was caught behind off the bowling of Binny.

The last-wicket pair wasn’t in seventh heaven. Cricket wasn’t Greek to John, who was born in Egypt and donned the South African Test cap prior to their (Tra)i(co)solation. He faced 13 balls and scored a couple. He was run out.

India conceded 18 extras. Zimbabwe were dismissed for 155 off 51.4 overs. Sandhu bowled nine overs, included a maiden. He conceded 29, and picked up a scalp. Dev bowled 54 deliveries, including three maidens. He conceded 18 and picked up a wicket.

Lal bowled 10.4 overs, conceding 27 and picking up three wickets. He was adjudged the player of the match. Binny bowled 11 overs, including a couple of maidens. He conceded 25 and picked up a couple of scalps. Shastri bowled a dozen overs, including a maiden. He conceded 38 and picked up a wicket.

The Indian openers put on thirteen. Sunil Gavaskar scored four. He had no R(e)a(w)son to be el(even)ated – he was caught by Heron. Kris Srikkanth, who faced 27 balls and scored 20, was caught by Butchart. Rawson broke the 19-run stand.

Mohinder Amarnath faced 79 balls, scoring 44. His innings included four boundaries. He was caught by a substitute. Traicos broke the third-wicket stand, which was worth 69.

Sandeep Patil faced 54 balls, scoring 50. His innings included seven boundaries and a six. Fletcher broke the 27-run stand. Shastri faced 27 balls, scoring 17. His innings included a boundary. He was caught by Brown. The 20-run stand was broken by Shah.

Yashpal Sharma faced 18 balls, scoring 19. His unbeaten innings included a couple of boundaries. Dev, who faced eight deliveries, scored a couple. He was unbeaten.

Zimbabwe conceded only a couple of extras. India scored 157 for the loss of five wickets off 37.3 overs. The latter won by five wickets, with 135 balls to spare. Butchart bowled five wicketless overs, including a maiden. He conceded 21.

Curran bowled 6.5 wicketless overs, including a maiden. He conceded 33. Shah, who bowled 21 balls, conceded and picked up a wicket. Fletcher bowled six overs, including a maiden. He conceded 32 and picked up a wicket.

Traicos bowled 11 overs, including a maiden. He conceded 41, picking up a scalp. Rawson bowled 5.1 overs, including a maiden. He conceded 11 and picked up a couple of wickets.