Plays of the day from the first ODI between Zimbabwe and India at the Harare Sports Club

Karthik Krishnaswamy11-Jun-2016The dropJasprit Bumrah had taken a wicket in his second over, skidding one on from just back of a length to bowl the leaden-footed Chamu Chibhabha. Now, starting his fourth over with figures of 3-2-2-1, he angled one across the left-handed Craig Ervine, pitching it on the perfect length. It was full, inviting the batsman forward, but not full enough to drive. Ervine took the bait, and edged thickly, straight into the lap of KL Rahul at second slip, and straight out, as he grabbed at the ball instead of letting it come to him.The delayed free-hitThe drop did not affect Bumrah’s outward composure – barely anything changes his placid expression – but perhaps it affected him inwardly, and he overstepped while bowling his next ball. Then, running in to deliver a free-hit, he sent down a massive leg-side wide, which left a diving MS Dhoni sprawled helplessly as the ball ran away to the boundary.The actual free-hitBumrah ran in again, and delivered a length ball. Ervine slogged, looking to hit over midwicket, and only managed a thick edge that swirled high in the air, dropping towards Barinder Sran rushing in from fine leg. Sran positioned himself under the ball, steadied himself, and let the ball slip through his fingers.Chibhabha v RayuduThe last time India toured Zimbabwe, Chibhabha was the home side’s best performer with the bat: he scored 157 runs at 52.33 in three ODIs, and 90 at 45.00 in two T20s. Rather more unexpectedly, he was also one of their brightest sparks with the ball, picking up four wickets at 26.75 in the ODI series. He came on in the 10th over of India’s innings on Saturday, and beat KL Rahul with his first ball. He kept finding late swing away from the right-handers, and in his second over he had Ambati Rayudu in plenty of bother. He kept pitching it just back of a length, and found a bit of extra bounce to go with the away movement. He beat Rayudu’s outside edge twice in succession, and then, after Rayudu managed to get forward to a slightly fuller one and block it, beat him again, opening him up completely.