Zimbabwe may have gone down tamely to Sri Lanka in the tri-series final. But, that should not, for a moment, dishearten either the team or its supporters. When the series began, no one had given Zimbabwe a chance of making it to the finals. The fact that they made it, and that too at the back of three emphatic wins in four matches – two against India and one against Sri Lanka – proves that theirs has been the real victory, the story of the series.

For India and Sri Lanka, these games were supposed to be practice matches, which was reflected in the teams the chose. But, for Zimbabwe, this was an opportunity to face-off against big boys after a long time, albeit second-string teams. And so, nothing can be taken away from them for the effort the put into their matches, and making the series an unexpectedly interesting one. And so, world cricket should slowly but surely start taking Zimbabwe seriously once again.

The reversal in the final notwithstanding, Zimbabwe had plenty of gains, clearly the most, among the three teams on display. First and foremost, it was their confidence level that needs to be appreciated. In all the games that they won, they outclassed their much-superior opponents in a thoroughly professional manner. Undoubtedly, this was one of the primary factors why there were able to make a huge impression in the series.

Moving on to individual performances, there were a number of memorable ones from Zimbabwe’s side. The one that instantly comes to mind is that of ‘Man of the Series’ Brendan Taylor. Leaving the finals apart, he made a match-winning contribution in most of the other games, and was aptly chosen as the player of the tournament.

Batting at the top of the order, Taylor was at his irrepressible best, getting the team off to great starts in the company of Hamilton Masakadza. More significantly, he has the ability to stay at the crease till the very end, which played such a major role in Zimbabwe’s flourishing fortunes. With all the strokes in the book and a proper aptitude, Taylor seems set for a long innings in international cricket, if Zimbabwe’s political situation allows him to do so.

Amongst the others, as mentioned earlier, Masakadza provided excellent support to Taylor, and ensured the run-rate was always at acceptable proportions. Tatenda Taibu also proved his worth yet again, chipping in with crucial knocks throughout. His effort in the final may have been in vain, but it kept Zimbabwe in high spirits after they got off to a disastrous start. The tiny Taibu is experienced way beyond his age, and should now remain a vital cog in this outfit for a number of years.

Apart from the experienced guys, there were a couple of surprise packages too. Craig Ervine’s match-winning knock on debut was a veteran-like effort. If he can carry on from where he has started, Zimbabwe cricket will be served well. The skipper Elton Chigumbura also chipped in and wasn’t the worst in his first series as captain either.

Looking at the bowling, there were a couple of plusses in that department too. While the medium-pacers were surprisingly efficient against India, the spin of Greg Lamb and Ray Price shockingly troubled them even more. It helped that India went in to their games with a negative mindset; still the bowlers need to be given equal credit. It needed a Tillakarante Dilshan special to bring them down to earth.

At the start of this tri-series, Zimbabwe were down in the dumps. But, thanks to the confidence gained from the last couple of weeks, things are already looking better for the home team. With West Indies’ unrelenting slide, world cricket is desperate for a competitive Zimbabwe team.

This is the first game of the Micromax Cup in Zimbabwe between the hosts, India and Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe is entering this tournament with a disastrous performance in the World T-20, being knocked out in the first round.

However, they did learn important lessons after beating Australia and Pakistan in the warm-up matches of the tournament, under a new captain, Elton Chigumbura. India, also didn’t do well in the same tournament, having being knocked out in the Super 8s stage.

They are under pressure back home and as a result most of the seniors have been rested in order to give youngsters a chance to perform. So all this makes it an interesting match as India have a new-look team and a new captain in Suresh Raina and Zimbabwe also are looking to start afresh in order to prepare for the World Cup next year.

At the Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo the conditions favoured the batsmen to a certain extent. As a result, India won the toss and elected to bat first. Dinesh Karthik, and Murali Vijay, both Tamil Nadu players too, were out in the middle to open the batting.

India tried to take control of the game thanks to horrendous bowling from the Zimbabwean skipper himself, which resulted in 36 runs coming in 2 overs. And the sundries read 24.

However, Zimbabwe fought back in no time. Vijay’s running between the wickets could be described as if he was walking in a park. As a result, a run-out sometime or the other was evident, and it did happen. Three balls later, the usually athletic Virat Kohli, batting one down, got run out without scoring and facing a ball!

And much sooner, the settled Karthik also edged a flighted delivery from the former captain Prosper Utseya and Brendan Taylor, the Zimbabwean wicketkeeper held on to the catch.

It was 61/3 in just 12.3 overs when the two biggies in this second-string Indian team, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma were at the crease. Raina, tried to play a captain’s knock by nudging the ball here and there responsibly, thereby curbing his aggressive shots.

In the end, it proved to be slightly slower innings than expected as he scored 37 runs off 53 balls, with just two boundaries. However, Sharma batted extremely well, considering the flak that he had been facing over the pub incident in the Caribbean and the issue of him being overweight.

He certainly proved his critics wrong by scoring 114 runs off 119 balls at an impressive strike rate of 95.79, which included 6 boundaries and 4 sixes. Ravindra Jadeja, was also a bright spark of the Indian batting scoring a run-a-ball unbeaten 61 and with some help from Yusuf Pathan’s lustrous hitting, India managed to reach a competitive total of 285/5 in 50 overs.

For Zimbabwe, it was Chris Mpofu who was the best bowler as he finished with figures of 2/63 in 10 overs. Utseya bowled well to keep India below 300. Yet, it was a tough task for Zimbabwe to chase 286, against an Indian attack which is young and has proved its ability in tournaments like the IPL and Ranji Trophy.

However, the Indian bowlers didn’t bowl to their potential as Zimbabwe started off in blazing fashion. It had to take a slider from Amit Mishra, by far India’s most experienced bowler in this match, to remove Hamilton Masakadza who in the end scored 46 runs off 43 balls. Despite the loss of this wicket, Zimbabwe was in a dominant position at 88/1 in 13 overs.

The pace trio of Ashok Dinda, R Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav struggled to stop Zimbabwe from putting up good partnerships and allowed Zimbabwe to bat freely as Brendan Taylor, a very underestimated batsman scored as many as 81 runs off 103 balls, as the required rate never went out of reach. Although at one stage, Zimbabwe required 50 runs off 36 balls, they deserved to win.

Charles Coventry, whose ferocious hitting is known courtesy the innings of 194 against Bangladesh last year, also went at a strike rate of 128. Chigumbura is a clean hitter of the ball and the captain couldn’t have felt more delighted than seeing the youngster on debut, Craig Ervine, scoring a half-century and winning the match in his debut one-day game as captain with him himself being at the other end! Ervine played a calm, controlled knock which made Zimbabwe overhaul India’s score with 10 balls to spare.

Raina’s captaincy and team selection came into question. Using Jadeja in the last few overs was not the best of tactics and so he paid the price for it. Yusuf Pathan wasn’t given more overs and instead Raina banked on inexperience to deliver. This caused a major upset and opens up the triseries in dramatic fashion.

Brendan Taylor was named man-of-the-match and he could lead Zimbabwe to more wins in the future against top nations, if he continues to perform in this vain. On the other hand, Raina and India has a lot of thinking to do as they would face Sri Lanka (yet again!), next up. And the Tigers would be looking to pounce on the prey which has already been wounded so severely.

Chigumbura - leader of the home pack

In spite to being pitted against a second-string Indian side, one has to say that Zimbabwe’s win in the opening encounter of the tri-series was nothing short of an upset. After all, Zimbabwe have been playing with a makeshift team themselves for half a decade.

Even so, this series presents them with a great opportunity to gain some much-needed experience and start the process of getting their cricket back on track. The comprehensive victory against India was a perfect step in this direction.

Even since their top players quit the scene owing to political instabilities, Zimbabwe have struggled to put together 11 men to take the field and also to find an opposition, with most teams backing out when the crisis was at its peak.

And so, with India and Sri Lanka arriving in the African nation, Zimbabwe stand to gain the most, irrespective of the result.

There were plenty of positives in the opening game itself for Zimbabwe as they took full advantage of the inexperienced Indians and handed them a rude jolt. Among the ones who were particularly impressive was a debutant named Craig Ervine, who batted with nerves of steel to guide the team home in what should have been a tough chase even against a weakened Indian bowling line-up.

True, he was helped to a great extent by the enormous start that the openers gave the home side. Still, it can never be easy for a first-timer to go out in the middle under tough circumstances and see things through to the very end.

The fact that Ervine succeeding in staying at the crease till the winning runs were hit should stand him in good stead, at least for some of the future matches.

It wasn’t the debutant alone, though, who stood up to be counted. The most striking aspect of Zimbabwe’s win was that each and every batsman made a significant contribution during the chase.

The intent to win, which was a hallmark of 90s’ Zimbabwe even when they lost, was palpable in this bunch of players. And so, they went out with a positive attitude, which worked wonders for the spirit of the team.

The openers Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor handled the newbie Indian bowlers with consummate ease and the confidence only rubbed off on the rest. And, every time Zimbabwe looked in a spot of bother, there was someone to bail them out, be it Ervine, Charles Coventry or newly-elected skipper Elton Chigumbura, who hit the winning runs.

This was one of the key factors that contributed to Zimbabwe’s elusive triumph against a Test-playing nation, apart from Bangladesh.

On the contrary, India shouldn’t read too much into the defeat. Considering the lack of experience in the side, they were bound to struggle even against Zimbabwe.

The best they can do is have a peek at what some of their youngsters like Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar are capable of and look forward to build a team from there for bigger battles.

All three mentioned are pace bowlers, a department in which the cupboard is definitely looking bare, and hence rather significant. The World Cup is now only months away, so India cannot afford to play merry-go-round for long.

This series should give them an opportunity to shortlist some of the rookies, who they believe can come in handy during the mega event.

Having seen their ragged performance in the opening game, it is evident that they have a lot of hard work to do. But, this is just the start for Suresh Raina and co.
The valiant knocks from Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, though in a losing cause, should inspire the newer members of the team to pull up their socks.

While there isn’t much for the viewers to gain from watching this experimental series, the same cannot be said for the teams.