‘Thrilling win’ – Twitter reacts as India manage to escape an upset at the hands of Zimbabwe in the third ODI

The third ODI between India and Zimbabwe got underway on Monday in Harare from 12:25 pm (IST). After bowling first in the first two matches, the Indian captain KL Rahul decided to bat first upon winning the toss. The Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul started their innings cautiously as they looked to set their eye in before playing their shots.

KL Rahul looked a bit off-ouch as he failed to get going. The Indian captain was finally dismissed by Brad Evans giving Zimbabwe their first wicket at the score of 63. Shikhar Dhawan also fell quickly leaving India at 84/2 after 21 overs. Dhawan’s dismissal brought Ishan Kishan to the crease who stitched a huge partnership with Shubman Gill.

Gill continued his fine form and looked like batting on a completely different track in his free-flowing innings. He built on his innings gradually and kept finding boundaries throughout his innings. Gill and Kishan added 140 runs for the fourth wicket.

Gill continued to bat in an emphatic fashion and brought up his first-ever International hundred. He was finally dismissed for a magnificent 130 off just 97 balls. Courtesy of his stupendous innings, India managed to reach 289 in their allotted 50 overs. Brad Evens was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe who picked up 5 wickets for 54 runs.

The Zimbabwe chase got off to a miserable start as opener Innocent Kaia was dismissed on the score of 7. Sean Williams walked in to bat and stabilized the innings with a well-made 45 off 46 balls. After Williams’ dismissal, Zimbabwe lost their way and began to collapse under pressure. At the score of 169/7 after 35.5 overs, India smelled victory. But Sikandar Raza and Brad Evans were in full mood to spoil India’s party as they added 104 runs for the eighth wicket.

Raza looked in tremendous touch as he was taking the Indian bowlers to the cleaners. He plundered boundaries after boundaries taking Zimbabwe closer to the target. The 36-year-old also brought up his sixth ODI hundred in the process. Raza’s magnificent innings was ended by a brilliant catch by Shubhman Gill at long on with Zimbabwe just 15 runs short of victory. Indian bowlers saved themselves from a possible upset as they won the match by 13 runs. Avesh Khan picked up three wickets for 66 runs in 9.3 overs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to India’s thrilling win: