First T20I vs Zimbabwe three things: Batting comforts, Axar's debut and Mohit's brilliance

If there were any doubts on whether the Indian players were distracted with all the goings-on back home with the IPL verdict, they laid them to rest with an emphatic performance against Zimbabwe in the first T20I in Harare. A 54-run margin in a Twenty20 is impressive under any circumstances and it was achieved with a solid collective display against an error-prone Zimbabwe side. Here are three things that stood out from the performance for India. [caption id=“attachment_2349464” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Indian players walk off the pitch after beating Zimbabwe. PTI[/caption] India’s batting hardly under pressure: Ajinkya Rahane won the toss for the first time on this tour and chose to bat without any hesitation on a dry wicket where he expected assistance for spin later on. Unlike the ODI series, Rahane and Vijay wasted no time to get going as they raced to 58 in the first six overs. Rahane went about in his copybook style of playing gorgeous shots on the off-side but it was Vijay who gave the momentum. Debutant Taurai Muzarabani’s second over which went for 17 runs was a microcosm of Zimbabwe’s bowling effort. Short-pitched gifts mixed in with extras and a couple of half-volleys outside off thrown in to the mix is not a great recipe against Indian strokemakers. Vijay hit his favourite pick-up shot for a six from the second ball, threw his weight behind a heave over long-on before showing deftness with a late cut past third man. In all Zimbabwe conceded 25 extras in their innings – 13 of them wides – and they weren’t going to get away with giving India two extra overs in a 20 over match. Calling a batting performance ‘effortless’ can often be patronizing to the batsmen, but India’s top order didn’t have to break a sweat as they plundered 178 – comfortably above par on a wicket where even Zimbabwe’s spinners got some purchase. Mixed day for India’s debutants: Zimbabwe, for their part, did not get off to a bad start either. India went in to this game with five T20I debutants – Sandeep Sharma, Manish Pandey, Kedhar Jadhav, Stuart Binny and Axar Patel. And out of them, Sandeep had the most forgettable outing. Opening the bowling with Bhuvneshwar, Sandeep conceded 16 runs in his first over in International cricket. It was baptism by Zimbabwean fire, so to speak. The first ball was carted back by Chamu Chibhahbha over long-on for a six and Hamilton Masakadza scoop-swept the third ball over fine-leg boundary for another maximum. His second over went for seven runs and when he come back to bowl the last of the innings with the game wrapped up, the tail-enders rubbed more salt into his wounds, scoring 12 runs. He finished with figures of 3-0-34-0. Axar Patel, who has had the best moments of his career in the shortest format, returned home with the Man-of-the-Match award with figures of 4-0-17-3. He precipitated the collapse, along with Harbhajan Singh, as the duo picked two wickets each to send the hosts from 50-0 in 7 overs to 68-4 after 11. It was straight from Dhoni’s book of ‘Effective ways of choking a chase with tight spin bowling,’ as Axar and Bhajji mixed their lengths up very well. Axar’s quick, straighter one proved a potent weapon as he sent the stumps flying on a couple of occasions. Mohit Sharma’s moment of brilliance: But the moment of the day belonged to Mohit Sharma. With the game arguably in the bag for India in the 14th over, Sikandar Raza tucked Stuart Binny with soft hands to the vacant mid-wicket region and immediately set-off for two. Mohit, who was stationed at deep mid-wicket took off, like a sprinter who had heard the pistol go off. When the ball barely crossed the inner circle, he bent down in full speed, collected the ball in one hand and in one fell swoop, released a bullet throw half-balanced, with the momentum still taking him forward. He had one stump to aim at. And he aimed it right. Charles Coventry was caught 3 or 4 yards short and just continued running to the pavilion. It was a moment of individual brilliance on the field from arguably India’s best fast bowling-fielder. Remember that run-out in the World Cup of AB de Villiers? When Mohit Sharma is in the outfield, batsmen will know better than to chance his arm.