Zimbabwe won an ODI against India only in their 14th match?
(19 March 2002)

When Zimbabwe took on India at Centurion Park in a day-night match during the Standard Bank tri-series in 1997, the only Test teams they had not yet beaten in the one-day arena were India, the West Indies and South Africa. By the time the players walked off the ground that night, they had whittled down that list to two teams.

India won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bat. Skipper Sachin Tendulkar, going through a lean patch, pushed himself down the order, but Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid did not exactly set the stands on fire with their opening partnership of 25. Tendulkar battled his bad form to hit 41 off 56 balls, while Mohammad Azharuddin stroked 44 off 67.

Zimbabwe, however, managed to keep things tight, bowling the Indians for only 216 in 48.4 overs. But after a spell of rain between the innings, Messers Duckworth and Lewis collaborated to set Zimbabwe a revised target of 171 in 34 overs, just over five runs per over.

India looked to have the match well in hand when they took four wickets for 55 runs. Aside from Grant Flower, none of the top four batsmen could make it to double figures, and worse still, they plodded along consuming valuable deliveries for their meagre scores.

When Alistair Campbell was dismissed at 78 for six, the result looked foregone. It was thus a rearguard action that Craig Evans and Paul Strang mounted. Evans hit 43 off 47 balls, with a four and three sixes, while Strang hit one four in making 31 off 42.

Evans was eventually dismissed, and even then, with the score on 149 for seven, India could have won the match. But Heath Streak gave some much-needed support to Strang, and the latter responded with a match-winning innings that saw Zimbabwe reach their target with two balls to spare.