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Chawla stars in
India A's nine-wicket win at Harare |
Zimbabwe Select XI Vs India A (July 24-27,
2007)
Leg Spinner Piyush Chawla came
up with a rich match haul of 8 for 70 to set up
an easy nine-wicket win for India A against a
Zimbabwe Select XI. The Mohammad Kaif-led Indian
team is playing a two-match (4-day) series
against a Zimbabwean outfit. The Zimbabweans
almost played their full strength team which was
further boosted by the return of former Captain
and Wicket Keeper Tatenda Taibu.
India A won the toss in this
four-day first class match at the Harare Sports
Club. The tourists piled up 489 in 138 overs in
their first innings thanks to as many as six
half centuries. Robin Uthappa top scored with 88
which came at more than run-a-ball rate. The
other half centurions included Wicket Keeper and
no.3 batsman Parthiv Patel (67), Skipper
Mohammad Kaif (63), Rohit Sharma (66), S
Badrinath (62) and Piyush Chawla (58). New ball
bowlers Christopher Mpofu and Edward Rainsford
picked up three wickets each out of the ten
wickets to fall.
The Zimbabweans fell just short
of the follow on target by two runs. Tatenda
Taibu announced his arrival in the Zimbabwean
team after an absence of two years with a
fighting century. He single handedly tried to
steer his side out of trouble with his 123.
Zimbabweans were at 136 for 6 before a superb
partnership between Taibu and Skipper Prosper
Utseya (53) got going. The Indians bowled out
the homeside for 338 in 116.2 overs and enforced
the follow on. Irfan Pathan and Yo Mahesh, the
two opening bowlers picked up a couple of
wickets but it was Piyush Chawla, the most
impressive with 4 for 40 in over 22 overs. For
Irfan Pathan, it was the first real match in
which he was implementing whatever changes he
had worked on in his bowling action. He bowled
20 overs and went for 80 runs but lacked the
rhythm as he overstepped 11 times!
In the second innings of the
Zimbabweans, Kaif got VRV Singh to share the new
ball with left arm spinner Rajesh Pawar. Once
again Zimbabweans struggled against the leg spin
and googlies of Piyush Chawla to be bowled out
for 216 in 81.5 overs. This time around,
Vusimuzi Sibanda, coming in at no.3 top scored
with 69. Taibu once again played well scoring 40
solid runs. For the Indians, VRV Singh and
Rajesh Pawar picked up two wickets each and
Chawla got another four-wicket haul. Irfan
Pathan managed to do better taking 1 for 43 in
12 overs including three maidens.
The India A side required just
66 to win which they got in less than 10 overs.
Irfan Pathan got the opportunity to open the
innings and he used that to its fullest
remaining unbeaten on 39 from 30 balls with 5
fours and a six. The Indians will be playing
another four-day match against this same team at
Bulawayo from the 30th.
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