Harare: India thrashed Zimbabwe by 9 wickets in the first ODI of the three match series today.
Lokesh Rahul became the first Indian to score a hundred on ODI debut, said he had made up his mind to hit a six to reach the three-figure mark in the first match against Zimbabwe here today.
It was a dream debut for the opener over Zimbabwe.
Chasing a paltry target of 169, the Indian batsmen hardly broke sweat as they comfortably cruised home in 42.3 overs.
Playing his first ODI, Rahul completed his coveted three-figure landmark with a huge six over deep mid-wicket off seamer Hamilton Masakadza, when there was only two runs required to win the match.
He found an able ally in Ambati Rayudu (62 n.o.) as they added 162 runs in 38 overs for the unbroken second wicket partnership even though the Hyderabadi batsman was not at his fluent best.
When he reached 87, Rahul also became the highest individual scorer on debut eclipsing Robin Uthappa’s 86 against England on his ODI debut in Indore, back in 2006.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team were in complete control of the proceedings right from the start as the hosts never looked like putting up a fight during the course of the match, once they were put into bat.
Teams:
India: MS Dhoni(c and wk), Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Axar Patel, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Zimbabwe: AG Cremer (c), C Chibhabha, H Masakadza, R Mutumbami, V Sibanda, CR Ervine, Sikandar Raza, PJ Moor, E Chigumbura, T Muzarabani, TL Chatara.