India player ratings from dominating series win: KL Rahul steals the show
Jun 16, 2016 at 5:45 PM
A dominant India as it was expected completed a 3-0 whitewash by bulldozing a below-par Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in the final and last ODI of the series in what turned out to be one of the most one-sided series we have seen in recent times.
The Zimbabwe bowling has been tepid at best, and never able to bother or threaten the Indian batting line-up. It looked like the only way the Indians could get out, was if they made a mistake of their own.
The dominating act we have witnessed this time around easily persuades us to forget that the last time India travelled to Zimbabwe, the series was a lot closer one. India won the opening match by only four runs, and the hosts won the last game of the tour, to square the T20s 1-1.
Youngsters like Yuzvendra Chahal and Karun Nair making their first international appearance gave some impressive performances throughout the series. Also, the brilliant fifty on debut by the 30-year-old Faiz Fazal was great to watch. But, the standout performer for India in this series was KL Rahul.
Here we have tried to rate the Indian players on the basis of their performances in the ODI series.
Faiz Fazal – 7.5/10
Faiz Fazal displayed an impressive catalogue of strokeplay on his ODI debut, making the 30-year old opener a standout performer from this series. The Vidarva batsman didn’t get a chance to play the first two ODI but in the third one Dhoni selected him in place of Karun Nair and Fazal with an impressive 55 showed his brilliance. Despite the target being small, there was just enough time for Fazal to demonstrate his footwork.
Karun Nair – 6/10
Karun Nair made his first international appearance and put up decent performances in the first 2 ODI matches of his career with 46 runs with an average of 23. Despite failing to finish the match for his team, this Zimbabwe tour definitely taught him some significant lessons. Let’s see how he capitulates in the coming days.
KL Rahul – 9/10
After becoming the first Indian batsman to hit a hundred on ODI debut, no one can deny KL Rahul exceptional talent in limited-overs cricket at the moment. Rahul with 196 runs is now second to Navjot Singh Sidhu’s 199 after first three ODIs. Very few can argue that he, with limited opportunities, has done exceptionally well. However, the Karnataka batsman will have to maintain his consistency if he dreams to challenge for a permanent opening slot, with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay occupying that spot.
Ambati Rayudu – 8/10
Rayudu displayed two impressive knocks with great composure in both the first 2 matches he got the chance to bat and did the job for India staying until the end of the innings. His scores of 62* and 41* in proved he was enjoying every moment of his innings as he connected the ball with perfect timing. Despite not being able to face any decent challenge from the opponent bowlers, Rayadu would be very much happy with his performances.
MS Dhoni – 7/10
He might have wanted to bat at least in one of the three matches but didn’t get the chance to young guns of the top order on every occasion finished the game in style. However, he registered his first ever clean sweep abroad. Dhoni, now is the 2nd most successful ODI captain with 107 ODI win, first being Australia’s two-time world cup winning captain Ricky Ponting. The way he handled the young bloods of the Indian team and boosted them the much-needed confidence throughout the series was worth watching as captain cool displayed a perfect role of a mentor.
Yuzvendra Chahal – 8/10
With this ODI series ending with so much joy, Chahal made a seamless transition from India hopeful to India player with his consistent performances of great control and maturity, returning figures of 1/27 in 10 overs on debut. In the last match, his bowling figures say it all – 2/25 in 8 overs, while in the second match it was 3/25 in 6 overs. It’s still very early days though for Chahal in the Indian dressing-room. For now, he’s glad to have overcome the nerves of that first meeting with his new captain.
Jasprit Bumrah – 9/10
Bowling as a first-change, Bumrah managed to clog the already slow scoring rate and took 4 wickets to destroy Zimbabwean batting line-up in the first ODI. In the second, the pacer picked up just one wicket but was quick and very economical, conceding only 28 runs in six overs. In the third and final match, Bumrah yet again gave a stellar performance taking four wickets, and was even on a hat-trick, to jolt the hosts in the middle overs.
While his unique bowling action and speed give him an edge over a lot of his peers, the much-needed variations he also added to his armor has contributed a lot towards his success.
Dhawal Kulkarni – 7.5/10
Bowling in the right channel and troubling the incompetent Zimbabwe batsmen right from the word go, Dhawal Kulkarni ended the ODI series with 5 wickets. His early breakthroughs couldn’t give the Zimbabwe batsmen a single chance to steady the ship. Overall a decent series for the right-arm medium pacer.
Barinder Sran – 6/10
Barring the third and final ODI, Barinder both in the first two matches produced some excellent spells. The left-armer often troubled the Zimbabwe openers with the ball which swung back into them. His figures of 2/42 and 2/17 proved to be decisive in order to dismantle the nervous Zimbabwe batting order. But he needs to improve his fielding, otherwise, it will all go in vain despite showing promising bowling figures.
Axar Patel – 5/10
Despite being quite economical and restricting the run flow of Zimbabwe, he hardly looked threatening. For someone who has been with the Indian team for quite a long time, this series came as a great opportunity to show a fruitful impact but Axar failed to live up to the expectations.