Zimbabwe give mighty India a shock in opener

Zimbabwe overhaul India by six wickets with 10 balls to spare to give the tri-nations one-day series with Sri Lanka a surprising opening.

BULAWAYO // Zimbabwe overhauled India by six wickets with 10 balls to spare to give the tri-nations one-day series with Sri Lanka a surprising opening yesterday Zimbabwe, one of international's cricket's lesser lights served notice they will not just be the amiable host for the pair of former World Cup champions, comfortably overhauling India's impressive 285 for five with the second highest successful run chase in their history.

Brendan Taylor, the opener, put Zimbabwe on course with 81, and Craig Ervine, on debut, helped to finish the chase on 289 for four with 67 not out. Elton Chigumbura, the captain, hit the winning runs with his fourth boundary in an unbeaten 24 from 16 balls. Chigumbura and Ervine shared a match-winning partnership of 58. "Hami (Masakadza) and BT (Brendan Taylor) put us on top with their first-wicket partnership," Chigumbura said. "It was also good to see Craig score a half century on his debut. The guys did well.

"The main focus now is to be consistent and we are working on that at the moment." Earlier, Rohit Sharma hit 114 for his maiden ODI century while Ravindra Jadeja added an unbeaten 61 for India. Sharma's fluent innings comprised six fours and four sixes off 119 balls. "They batted really well, to be honest," said India's captain Suresh Raina said of Zimbabwe. "They deserved to win. Rohit batted really well for us and we are already looking forward to an improved performance against Sri Lanka on Sunday."

* Agency