With an emphatic seven-wicket win at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, Virat Kohli led India to a clean sweep against Zimbabwe in his first full series as national captain. Amit Mishra (six wickets) helped spin the home side out for 163, thanks to his maiden five-wicket haul. This was after the pacers rattled the hosts’ top order.

Later, Shikhar Dhawan set the tone for the Indian innings with an entertaining 41, while Ajinkya Rahane’s completed his half-century. Ravindra Jadeja then struck 48* to help the visitors cruise to the target with 96 balls to spare.

Earlier, after Kohli won the toss and opted to bowl, Jaydev Unadkat gave India their first breakthrough. Opening the bowling for the first time in the series, Unadkat got the top edge of Vusi Sibanda’s willow that was pouched by the ‘keeper. Four overs later, Zimbabwe captain Brendon Taylor was snapped up by Suresh Raina at second slip off Mohit Sharma for zero.

Timycen Maruma was the next to be dismissed, while Hamilton Masakadza was castled by Jadeja coming around the wicket eight runs later to leave the home team on 45 for four. It was déjà vu for Zimbabwe as they continued to lose wickets at regular intervals with the notable exception of Sean Williams, who valiantly scored 51 off 65 balls.

Introduced into the attack in the 23rd over, Mishra claimed the remaining six wickets to wrap up the opposition for 163. He claimed Malcolm Waller off the first ball as the batter’s attempt to take the aerial route against the leg-spinner led to a catch. Elton Chigumbara then joined Williams to add 50 runs for the sixth wicket, before being trapped leg-before by Mishra for 17.

Tinotenda Mutombodzi then edged the last ball of the over to Raina. In the bowler’s next over, Williams, while trying to sweep, ended up in hands of Virat Kohli in the slips. Although Natsai Mushangwe hammered a couple of sixes, he was deceived by Mishra’s googly and was bowled. Brian Vitori was the last to walk back after edging Mishra to Kohli and ending the Zimbabwe innings in 39.5 overs.

Chasing the paltry total, India lost Cheteshwar Pujara, who opened with Dhawan, in the first over. Kyle Jarvis dislodged the opener’s bails for a duck to bring out Rahane. Dhawan smashed the opposition all over the park to get India off to a blistering start. With India on 43 for one in six overs, the umpires called for lunch.

After the innings resumed, Jarvis struck again to remove Dhawan for 41. The ball nicked the southpaw’s bat and was collected neatly by Taylor. With India shuffling their batting order, Jadeja then made his way to the middle to join Rahane in taking the innings forward.

With the required run-rate not a concern, the duo bided their time at the crease and stitched together a partnership. While Rahane relished the opportunity in the middle to gather runs, Jadeja ably supported him in their 71-run stand. The right-hand bat reached his fifty with a single off Williams to long-off, but was bowled by Waller in the next over, thereby ending his 66-ball stay at the crease.

With 38 runs still required, Dinesh Karthik joined Jadeja to take India to victory with an unbroken 41-run stand. Although he remained two runs short of his fifty, Jadeja scored the winning runs when he clubbed Waller for a six.

Brief scores: Zimbabwe163 all-out in 39.5 overs (S Williams 51, H Masakadza 32, A Mishra 6/48) lost India167/3 in 34 overs (A Rahane 50, R Jadeja 48*, S Dhawan 41, K Jarvis 2/18) by 7 wickets

Man of the Match: Amit Mishra for his six-wicket haul.