IND ZIM v ZIM 3rd ODI India beat ZIM despite a Sikandar Raza threat to win by 13 runsand win 3-0 sweep of the series.

Harare 22 August : All-rounder Sikandar Raza battled hard with his sixth ODI century, but India was able to overcome the threat to take the third and final ODI with 13 runs to complete a 3-0 sweep of Zimbabwe.

After Shubman Gills world-class 130 pushed India up to 289-8 Zimbabwe had to be beaten out in the race for the win at 169-7It was Raza and he hit on 115 off 95 balls which included nine sixes and three fours to bring Zimbabwe close to the brink of an incredible win.He also played an 104-run partnership using the ball of 79 with Brad Evans (28) who earlier scored his first five-for in ODI cricket (5-54) in a raucous home crowd roared their support.With 33 required from the final three overs, India took the final three wickets which included Evans and Raza in successive overs, to secure an impressive win.Zimbabwe barely came within of getting over the line.For the tourists, Avesh Khan took 3-66 while Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, and Deepak Chahar picked up two wickets each.

Shardul Thakur took a wicket against his name.Chahar was able to give India the breakthrough stopping Innocent Kaia lbw after getting to alter the decision made on review.

Takudzwanashe Kaitano as well as Sean Williams slammed fours off Chahar and Avesh.But after they scored the top edge for six off Avesh, Kaitano walked off the field because of an injury to his left leg.Williams the senior pro as well as Tony Munyonga stitched a stand of 46 runs for the second wicket, putting Zimbabwe back on track.While Williams enjoyed the pace of Chahar and Thakur, Munyonga lofted down the field and steered through the third player to hit consecutive fours off the lone Deepak Hooda over.

After hitting another four off Thakur, Williams was trapped in a lbw trap by a ball from Patel which was swift off the stumps and was kept low leaving for 45.In the following over, Munyonga miscued to mid-off off Avesh as Zimbabwe lost two wickets in the same number of balls.Two wickets in two overs was repeated when Patel took an incisive catch of his own bowling and was able to dismiss captain Regis Chakabva while Kaitano was stumped quickly off Kuldeep Yadav.

The final ball of the 33rd over the moment that Ryan Burl fell after heaving straight to mid-on off Chahar, Zimbabwe needed 141 runs in 17 overs.At the other end, Raza took his time to get in before getting two fours off Patel.

He was fortunate to his advantage and was able to withstand an appeal for lbw and, later, an opportunity to stump Kuldeep.Raza was able to welcome Chahar to the field by slamming the ball over mid-wicket deep for a massive six.After that, he relied on strike rotation until he scored three fours, which included on a free-hit and no-ball to score 20 runs off Thakur in the 39th over.He then smashed clean fours off Avesh and smashed Chahar for an inside-out flat six in extra-cover.

With a single over cover from Thakur, Raza got his third century in the final six games to keep Zimbabwe alive in the run-chase.He took Avesh for six and four more times as a resounding victory was in sight for Zimbabwe.

Avesh came back by trapping Evans in the lbw with the slower ball.The next ball, Thakur delivered the killer punch when he had Raza trapped for 115 while Gill was able to time his long-on forward dive to perfection to complete an unorthodox catch.

Avesh won the match for India with an oblique yorker to smash Nyauchis stumps.Brief score: India 289-8 in 50 overs (Shubman Gill 130, Ishan Kishan 50; Brad Evans 5-54, Victory Nyauchi 1-48) beat Zimbabwe 276 all out in 49.3 overs (Sikandar Raza 115, Sean Williams 45; Avesh Khan 366, Axar Patel 2-30) by 13 runs nr/bs.