India’s thumping victory over Zimbabwe was pretty much on the cards even before the one-day series had begun. Despite this speculation, it was thought that Indians would have to fight hard to beat Zimbabwe as they had arrived with a second-string side.
It was quite bizarre to see the Zimbabwean players kneel down without giving any fight. The 3-0 whitewash has questioned their capability to play at the highest level.
As far as India are concerned, they are many positives to take out from the ODI series. The emergence of KL Rahul as a potent ODI batsman, Yuzvendra Chahal’s coming-of-age performance and Faiz Fazal’s impressive debut are some encouraging signs for Indian cricket. Apart from that, there were many records which were broken and made as well.
Let us look at some of those records:
MS Dhoni completed 350 dismissals in ODIs: The Indian skipper became only the 4th wicket-keeper to reach 350 dismissals when he took Elton Chigumbura’s catch off Jaspirt Bumrah in the last ODI against Zimbabwe on Wednesday. MS is now behind Mark Boucher (424), Adam Gilchrist (472) and Kumar Sangakkara (484) in the list.
MS Dhoni equals Alan Border record of 107 wins: The win in the last ODI also equaled Dhoni with Australian great Alan Border in terms of number of matches won as captain. Border and Dhoni now share the second spot in the ranking with 107 wins each behind Ricky Ponting (165 wins).
KL Rahul became the first batsman to score a ton on debut: With his successful stint in IPL 2016, the Karnataka lad proved that he is as good in the shorter formats as he is in Tests. Rahul continued the good form when he took on the Zimbabwean bowlers in his debut game and scored a brilliant ton. He became the first Indian to achieve this feat.
Ambatai Rayudu completed 1000 ODI runs: The Hyderabad-born batsman reached his first landmark in ODIs after completing 1000 runs in the second game against Zimbabwe. With more than thousand runs in his kitty at an average of 50.23 in just 34 games, Ambati Rayudu has proved his mettle in ODIs.
Faiz Fazal became the oldest Indian debutant in 16 years: After making his debut in the last ODI against Zimbabwe, Faiz Fazal, 30, became the oldest Indian cricketer to debut for India in 16 years. The last 30-plus cricketer who debuted for India was wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe.
Faiz became the fourteenth player to score a 50 on debut: It was not just the age which kept Faiz Fazal in the news. The Vidarbha batsman scored a fine half-century, contributing in India’s win in the last ODI. He became the fourteenth batsman to a hit half-century on debut. The first batsman to do so was Ajit Wadekar.
