World Cup 2015 Match 39 India vs Zimbabwe Review; India wins 10th in a row in World Cups

World Cup 2015 Match 39 India vs Zimbabwe Review; India wins 10th in a row in World Cups: India faced Zimbabwe in their last group match before the quarter finals match. The match was special for Zimbabwe because it as the last match for their stand-in captain Brendan Taylor who has announced semi-retirement from international cricket to play in the English county championship.

India won the toss and chose to field. Zimbabwe got off to a horrid start, collapsing to 33/3 in 10 overs with each of the Indian fast bowlers taking a wicket each. Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams then took control of the match with a wonderful 93 run partnership. Williams was then dismissed by Ashwin for 50 runs. Taylor continued his fine form and got support from Ervine (27), Raza (28). Taylor then got to his second successive century off 99 balls. He was eventually dismissed for 138 by Mohit Sharma. Zimbabwe managed to make a considerable 287 runs in 49 overs.

Indian bowlers struggled to contain runs when Taylor and Williams were batting. The heartening fact for India was that each of their 3 fast bowlers took 3 wickets each. The concerning fact was that both of the spinners Ashwin and Jadeja went for 75 and 71 runs each in their 10 overs respectively. That can be accredited to the small Eden Park ground.

Indians opened their batting losing both the openers for 21 on board. Rohit Sharma continued his poor form with 12 runs and Dhawan committed suicide by hitting the ball onto his stumps on 4 runs. Rahane and Kohli tried to mend the innings but Rahane was run out for 19 and Sikandar Raza bowled Kohli while attempting a sweep for 38 runs. Raina and Dhoni then came together at India 92/4 and stitched a partnership of 196 runs unbeaten to win the match for India. Tinashe Panyangara was the pick of the bowlers picking up 2/53.

Raina went on to make 110* and Dhoni finished the match hitting a six and finishing up on 85*. India won its 10th match consecutively and chased its highest score in World Cup.

Suresh Raina won the Man of the match for his 110*.

Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 287 (B Taylor 138, S Williams 50; U Yadav 3/43) lost to India 288/4 (S Raina 110*, MS Dhoni 85*; T Panyangara 2/53) by 6 wickets.

Records and Trivia:

# Today for the first time 3 Indian bowler took at least 3 wkt each in same inns in World Cups. 3rd such instance in their ODI history.

# 12 SIXES so far by Zimbabwe batsmen – these are the most sixes in an innings in Zimbabwe’s ODI history.

# Brendan Taylor is the 2nd captain after Ricky Ponting in World Cup history to score back to back centuries in WC matches.

# Brendan Taylor is the 9th batsman to score back to back centuries in World Cup matches, 1st from Zimbabwe.

# MS Dhoni’s 400th international match as wicket keeper.

# India’s 10 consecutive win in World Cup.

# This is India’s highest successful chase in World Cup matches. Previous, 2011 WC final, they chased 275 against SL.

# Suresh Raina is also the first Indian to score an ODI century in New Zealand batting at 4th or lower position.

# Suresh Raina (today) and Vinod Kambli (1996) are the Indian to score a century in World Cup matches batting at 5th position.

Stats Source: @cricinfo_record