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Bulawayo: A merciless India maintained their stranglehold over minnows Zimbabwe as they cruised to a resounding nine-wicket win in the fourth one-dayer to extend their lead to 4-0 in the five-match series on Thursday.
Opting to field after winning the toss, India bowled out Zimbabwe for a paltry 144, and then chased down the target with 115 balls remaining at Queens Sports Club.
For India, leg-spinner Amit Mishra scalped three wickets for 25 runs, while debutant Mohit Sharma (2/26) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/28) picked up two apiece. Mohammed Shami and Jaydev Unadkat also accounted for one wicket each.
Rohit Sharma (64 not out) and Suresh Raina (65 not out) were the two main contributors with the bat as the visitors extended Zimbabwe's winless run.
Raina struck six fours during his 71-ball knock while Rohit found the fence five times and cleared it once during his 90-ball innings.
Chasing a small total, India suffered an early blow as they lost debutant Cheteshwar Pujara with the scoreboard reading 23 for one in the 10th over.
Earlier, barring an 80-run sixth wicket stand between Elton Chigumbura (50 not out) and Malcolm Waller (35), Zimbabwe had very little to show for in their batting effort as they were bowled out in 42.4 overs.
Such was Zimbabwe's struggle that only four batsmen managed double digit scores after being invited to bat by Virat Kohli.
With the series already in their pocket after having won the first three games quite comfortably, India made two changes in their playing eleven, handing out debuts to Cheteshwar Pujara and Mohit in place of Shikhar Dhawan and R Vinay Kumar.
Mohit impressed in his maiden ODI as he managed to extract pace and movement from the Queens Sports Club pitch.
The 24-year-old from Haryana soon tasted success and registered his maiden international wicket in just his fourth over when he induced an edge from Sikandar Raza which Dinesh Karthik had no problems in accepting.
Pitched on a good length on off stump, the ball nipped away off the seam just enough to take Raza's outside edge through to Karthik behind the stumps.
Hamilton Masakadza (10) was the next to depart, caught short off the crease by a direct hit from Jadeja.
Captain Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams and Sibanda departed in consecutive overs to make matters worse for Zimbabwe, who lost half of their side inside the 50-run mark.
While Jadeja accounted for the wickets of Taylor and Sibanda, Jaydev Unadkat removed Williams.
Mohit broke the partnership when Wallace nicked one to Karthik.
Thereafter, Chigumbura was left stranded at the other end as wickets kept on tumbling like nine pins for Zimbabwe, who lost their last five wickets for just 17 runs.
Earlier, India have won the toss and elected to field.
Shikhar Dhawan has been rested. Pujara makes his debut. Vinay Kumar has a groin injury and Mohit Sharma makes his debut. Zimbabwe unchanged.
Teams
Zimbabwe: Vusi Sibanda, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, Hamilton Masakadza, Brendan Taylor (Captain & wk), Malcolm Waller, Elton Chigumbura, Brian Vitori, Prosper Utseya, Michael Chinouya, Tendai Chatara
India: Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (Captain), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Shami Ahmed, Mohit Sharma, Jaidev Unadkat
Brief scores
Zimbabwe 144 (Chigumbura 50*, Mishra 3-25)
India 145 for 1 (Raina 65*, Rohit 64*)
Result India won by nine wickets
MOM Mohit Sharma (India)
