India put on a dominant show against Zimbabwe in the second ODI at the BCA Stadium in Kotambi on Sunday (October 25) to win by 121 runs.

The star performers of the match were Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma, who hit contrasting centuries to help India bounce back from their early batting slump to post a challenging target of 329 runs.

While Harmanpreet played a calm innings, Deepti hit some attacking strokes to help India post a huge total.

Harmanpreet and Deepti Turn Tide

India started off poorly losing Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma in the third over to Nomvelo Sibanda’s bouncer. However, Harmanpreet and Pratika Rawal, who scored a century in the first ODI, put on a 124 run-stable partnership.

Rawal was dismissed by Nyasha Gwanzura with some change of pace. Soon afterwards, Tejal Hasabnis fell to leave Deepti to come into the innings. She and Harmanpreet put on an incredible 153-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

 Harmanpreet hit a brilliant 126 with some well-timed drives and cuts. Deepti played aggressively to hit her second century of the ODI in the last over. Her unbeaten 106 helped India post 328/6 in 50 overs.

Zimbabwe Put Up a Fight but Indian Bowling Took Over

Despite losing Loryn Phiri early, Zimbabwe started positive. Modester Mupachikwa and Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano played some aggressive cricket to take them to 100 in 19 overs.

Mupachikwa scored 49 while Mugeri-Tiripano scored 46. However, Sayali Satghare made them pay as she dismissed Mugeri-Tiripano. Vaishnavi Sharma then ran through Zimbabwe’s innings as she took her maiden ODI wicket by dismissing Mupachikwa.

She also went on to dismiss Beloved Biza, Michelle Mavunga and Zimbabwe’s captain Josephine Nkomo. Deepti cleaned up the tail with 3 wickets for 32 runs while Vaishnavi took an impressive 4/39.

India Go for Clean Sweep in Final ODI

Zimbabwe were bowled out for a dismal 207 in 48.5 overs. Biza scored 34 but it wasn’t enough. Harmanpreet took the Player of the Match award after scoring an incredible 126.

Deepti and Vaishnavi played some all-round cricket which helped India dominate. Now that they’ve won the series, they’ll be looking to complete the clean sweep in the third and final ODI. This will be played on October 28 at 2pm.

Zimbabwe will be looking to improve their batting and bowling ahead of the final game of the series.