A fancied India suffered a shocking two-run defeat at the hands of an unheralded Zimbabwe as they failed to chase down a tricky target in the first T20 International cricket match, here on Saturday.
Chasing a target of 171, India were restricted to 168 for six with seamer Neville Madziva bowling a brilliant over to give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Needing only 8 off the final over, Dhoni who couldn't connect a single big shot during his sedate 19 off 17 balls. Surprisingly, Dhoni took single to expose Himachal Pradesh's Rishi Dhawan (1), who simply lacked quality or ability to hit the ball out of the park.
IPl regulars like Manish Pandey (48) and Axar Patel (18) did their bit to set it up but when it mattered the most, the little known Zimbabwean boys did it for their country.
Just when it looked that Pandey will take India home, he mistimed a lofted shot off Muzarabani's bowling to get out for 48 off 35 balls having hit a four and three sixes.
This brought down the equation to 28 off 16 balls. However Axar Patel hit one of the biggest sixes of the match over long-on to bring the equation down to 21 from 12 balls. A four and six off penultimate over saw Axar bring down the equation to 8 from the last over which the Indians failed to get.
Earlier, India's rookie bowlers were taken to cleaners by the seasoned Elton Chigumbura, who smashed an unbeaten 55 to help Zimbabwe reach a competitive 170 for six in 20 overs.
‘last ball was brilliant’
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has taken his side past the finishing line with his assured batting in crunch situtaions, found the last delivery bowled by Zimbabwe paceman Neville Madziva to be a "brilliant" one.
"Ultimately, the contest is between the bat and ball. I felt the last ball was brilliant," said Dhoni at the post match presenatation ceremony.
"We did not play to potential. A lot of wickets were not full-fledged shots, more like catching practice. You may be doing well in the domestic circuit but there is more pressure when you go from India A to India. It's good learning curve for them. There were a lots of errors committed by the batsmen. We were not playing with out first XI in the bowling department. Our lengths were not right," Dhoni said making it clear that Rishi Dhawan and Jaydev Unadkat were not upto the mark.