Barring two dropped catches and 20 extras, MS Dhoni had little to fret about while marshaling a very inexperienced side in his first international match in Zimbabwe since 2005. He won a good toss, rotated his rejigged his makeshift bowling attack with productive results - all five bowlers took at least one wicket - and now India need 169 to win the first ODI. Zimbabwe's 168 is their third-lowest total against India at the Harare Sports Club, a venue at which the average score is 236.
The chilly morning conditions - play began at 9am local time - encouraged Dhoni to field with a three-pronged seam attack and the decision was a good one, for Zimbabwe lost half their side by the time 24 overs were bowled. Six batsmen made it to double-figures, but none crossed 41 as an experimental India controlled proceedings from the time Peter Moor edged the first delivery of the game to third man for a single.
The Powerplay was quiet, with only two fours and a whopping 46 dot balls coming in ten overs.
Barinder Sran bowled 24 dot balls in his first six overs,
Dhawal Kulkarni 23 in his five, which included a maiden over, and each new-ball bowler scalped a wicket in that time. Left-arm seamer Sran was denied the wicket of Chamu Chibabha with his first ball when umpire Russell Tiffin misread its trajectory, but nailed Moor with his sixth in the same manner. In the ninth over, Hamilton Masakadza nibbled at Kulkarni and edged behind. The tone had been set.
Despite over-stepping twice and sending down a horrendous delivery down the leg side that evaded Dhoni for five wides,
Jasprit Bumrah delivered a crippling spell of 6-2-13-2 which left the home team heaving at 69/4. His first scalp was Chibhabha, who consumed 42 balls for 13 runs, and then Vusi Sibanda who flashed outside off stump. Craig Ervine, dropped at second slip by KL Rahul on 13 off Bumrah, added eight to his total before he flat-batted a short delivery from Axar Patel to wide long-on, where the substitute fielder Faiz Fazal held a good catch.
The recovery came through
Elton Chigumbura and Sikandar Raza, who put on 38 in 13.3 overs until Raza (23 from 54 balls), slashed at Sran and chopped onto the stumps. That was as good as it got for Zimbabwe's underwhelming batting order. Yuzvendra Chahal, the legspinner who was this IPL's second-highest wicket-taker, wheeled through his ten overs with impressive figures of 1/27 and Kulkarni finished strongly.
Chigumbura held up one end with an enterprising 41, but struggled to dominate. He got a life on 37 when Bumrah over-stepped for the third time and could only add four runs, with the sling-armed Indian pacer somewhat redeeming himself with two wickets in the final over. Bumrah finished with a career-best 4/28.
Brief scores: Zimbabwe 168 in 49.5 overs (Chigumbura 41, Bumrah 4/28, Sran 2/42, Kulkarni 2/42) v India