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A second-string India managed to beat Zimbabwe in the three-match cricket ODI series, taking a 1-0 lead. Zimbabwe skipper Chigumbura's ton went in futile as India held their nerves to register a close win in Harare.

The hosts required just 10 runs off the last over but Zimbabwe skipper Elton Chigumbura’s second ODI hundred was not sufficient to take the team to a winning side. They fell short by four runs in the chase of 256 runs.

Ambati Rayud’s career-best unbeaten 124, helped India recover from a top order fall and put a challenging 255 for six. This is his second international century.

India’s bowlers consistently missed in line and length, and bowled a lot of loose full tosses. Zimbabwe also kept losing wickets intermittently, while Chigumbura scored 104, which came off just 101 balls. But, this was just not enough.

Chigumbura raised an 86-run partnership along with Graeme Cremer (27) for the seventh wicket which threatened to take the match away from India.

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel and Stuart Binny took two wickets apiece, while Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni took one each.

Scoreboard

India: A. Rahane c Masakadza b Tiripano 34, M. Vijay c Sibanda b Vitori 1, A. Rayudu (not out) 124, M. Tiwary lbw b Chibhabha 2, R. Uthappa run out 0, K. Jadhav c Mutumbami b Chibhabha 5, S. Binny c Mutumbami b Tiripano 77, A. Patel (not out) 2; Extras (lb-2, w-8): 10; Total (for six wkts., in 50 overs): 255.

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Vijay), 2-60 (Rahane), 3-74 (Tiwary), 4-77 (Uthappa), 5-87 (Jadhav), 6-247 (Binny).

Zimbabwe bowling: Panyangara 9.2-1-53-0, Vitori 9-0-63-1, Tiripano 8.4-1-48-2, Chibhabha 10-2-25-2, Cremer 10-0-47-0, Williams 3-0-17-0.

Zimbabwe: V. Sibanda c Harbhajan b Binny 20, C. Chibhabha c Rahane b Bhuvneshwar 3, H. Masakadza c Tiwary b Axar 34, E. Chigumbura (not out) 104, S. Williams b Axar 0, Sikandar Raza c Patel b Harbhajan 37, R. Mutumbami c Harbhajan b Binny 7, G. Cremer c Binny b Kulkarni 27, D. Tiripano (not out) 1; Extras (b-8, lb-1, w-9): 18; Total (for seven wkts., in 50 overs): 251.

Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Chibhabha), 2-47 (Sibanda), 3-89 (Masakadza), 4-94 (Williams), 5-142 (Sikandar Raza), 6-160 (Mutumbami), 7-246 (Cremer).

India bowling: Bhuvneshwar 10-1-35-1, Kulkarni 9-0-60-1, Binny 10-0-54-2, Harbhajan 10-0-46-1, Axar 10-1-41-2, Tiwary 1-0-6-0.

-Sumana