Vijay's leap, Binny's errant front foot

Elton Chigumbura usually has one of the safer pairs of hands in Zimbabwe's XI, but he dropped the easiest of chances off Kedar Jadhav in the 41st over, with disastrous consequences. The error did nothing to help Graeme Cremer's figures, but worse still Jadhav, who should have been out for 41 off 57 deliveries, added a further 64 runs in his innings to rush to a maiden ODI century. He lead India's charge at the death as they plundered 106 off the last ten overs, ruining what had been a spirited start by Zimbabwe.

Jadhav's innings wasn't short on boundaries, and he found the area between backward point and third man particularly profitable. A deftly angled bat allowed him to collect six of his boundaries in that area, off both spin and pace, but the stand-out shot was the one that took him to his hundred. An attempted yorker from Neville Madziva slipped out as a full toss, and Jadhav helped the ball on its way with impeccable timing, clearing the boundary for his only six. It was a fitting way to go to a hundred, and his ecstatic celebration was also in keeping with the occasion.

M Vijay had a forgettable day with the bat, falling early via an outside edge, but he'll have rather fonder memories of his efforts with the ball. Vijay had only bowled three overs in 16 ODIs before today, and with just eight wickets in 70 List A matches he might have seemed an odd choice to be brought on to bowl at Chigumbura, who had gotten off the mark with a rasping cut off the left-arm spinner Axar Patel two overs previously. But Vijay's first ball spun in to rap Chigumbura on the pads, and when Umpire Simon Fry upheld the appeal Vijay had his first ODI wicket, celebrating the landmark with a leap and a click of the heels.

Any sense of achievement Vijay may have felt after his wicket will have been dented by his lackadaisical attempt to take a simple catch at long-on in the 35th over of Zimbabwe's innings. Chamu Chibhabha was the batsmen to be reprieved, as he punted a length delivery almost straight at Vijay only for the ball to bobble out of his hands. A distraught Stuart Binny recovered to nip Richmond Mutumbami out lbw at the end of the same over, though that dismissal did require a second look from the umpires as Binny's heel was only just behind the line...

... Which wasn't the case when he might have had Malcolm Waller caught behind for a golden duck. Binny had found some wobble through the air throughout his spell, and Waller poked nervously at an outswinger to send a thin edge straight through to Robin Uthappa behind the stumps. It seemed a foregone conclusion, and Waller was walking off when the umpires again asked for a review of the no-ball. This time Binny had landed his foot well over the line, but Waller couldn't make anything of his second chance. A free hit resulted only in a wild swing at fresh air, and in Binny's next over Waller nicked a regulation catch to Ajinkya Rahane, Zimbabwe's chase ending swiftly in a flurry of wickets.