World Cup 2015, India v/s Zimbabwe: India make it six in six with a six

Farewells aren't supposed to be cruel. But sometimes, they are just that. Bradman would have agreed.

Saturday was supposed to be about Brendan Taylor's last hurrah. It was his chance to say goodbye to his mates, to his countrymen and to that bright red shirt he wore with pride and panache for 11 years.

For about 70 overs, it seemed like the engineer above was in the mood to reward the 29-year-old for his selfless service to Zimbabwean cricket. A win over the defending champions — albeit in a dead rubber — would have been the perfect way to retire from international cricket playing for Zimbabwe and proceed to graze on greener pastures in Queen country. The only thing he got on a platter was a tailor-made — pardon the pun — opportunity: 13/2 after 4.3 overs. Much like he dealt with issues like player revolt, unpaid salaries, the country's withdrawal from Test cricket and Robert Mugabe, Taylor grabbed adversity by the scruff of the neck and dealt with it. And not for the first time, his teammates undid all his good work. In a way, they justified his decision to go Kolpak.

If keeping your guard up for 151 minutes and scoring an imperious, unbeaten 138 to lift your team from the doldrums can't win you the day, what can? If creaming the opposition's No. 1 spinner for 42 runs off 27 balls and making the others look no less pedestrian can't win you the day, what can? If, even after reducing the tournament's blue-eyed boys to 92/4 with nearly 200 to get can't win you the day, what can? If only the others had shown some gumption.

India experienced a few hiccups alright, but an unbroken 196-run partnership between Raina and Dhoni, at an astonishing run rate of 7.53, spoiled Taylor's party and extended India's. The win was the Men in Blue's sixth on the trot in this tournament and their 10th overall in World Cup play. A quarterfinal clash against Bangladesh, at the MCG on March 19, beckons.

Taylor, who shared important stands with Sean Williams (50) and Craig Ervine (27), took his team to 235 before falling to Mohit Sharma (3/48), India's best bowler on the day. His variations, especially the slower one bowled from the back of the hand, went a long way in ensuring India bowled out the opposition yet again for an eye-popping 60 wickets from six games. New Zealand managed 57. Umesh Yadav (3/43) and Mohammed Shami (3/48) also got into the act as Zimbabwe lost their last five wickets for 52 runs in seven overs.

With a 288-run target standing between India and a clean slate, Dhoni must have had a chuckle of sorts. The logic behind opting to bowl on a shirtfront surrounded by short boundaries has to be this: let's see how my boys fare in such a situation. Turns out they can be vulnerable.

Tinashe Panyangara got Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan in the same over before Ajinkya Rahane fell to a suicidal run-out to make it 71/3. There was more shock in store when Virat Kohli somehow managed to get bowled around his legs for 38. Game on.

Thankfully, Raina and Dhoni took their dosti-yaari to another level. To begin with, the Zimbabwe pacers targeted Raina's Achilles heel by peppering him with you know what. The southpaw, however, displayed commendable patience to get over his edgy, scratchy phase by launching left-arm spinner Williams for two consecutive sixes. The equation was anything but easy: 164 to get off 20-something overs.

Dhoni was his usual unperturbed self, nudging the ball around for ones and twos and keeping Raina on his toes. Raina and most of the 30,076 spectators heaved a sigh of relief — actually they roared — when Hamilton Masakadza made a mess of a simple offering at short fine-leg. Raina was on 47 then. In the batting powerplay, taken right after the drinks break, Raina brought up his fifty with an inside-out drive through long-off. Dhoni, too, hit a couple of fours.

It came down to 91 off the last 10. That's when the duo turned it on. The identity of the bowler didn't matter. Nor did the stuff dished out. If Raina came up with some delicate cuts, glides, tickles and the odd clean hit, Dhoni's batting was all about telling slaps and powerful heaves. When Raina brought up his maiden World Cup ton in the 45th, India needed 43 runs off 34 balls. Those are the kind of runs you back tail-enders to get in this era.

Dhoni simplified things with a six and a four off Tawanda Mupariwa. And for the first time in nearly three hours, the runs required were fewer than the deliveries in hand. Seventeen off 18 became nine off 12 and six off nine.

For the ninth time in his career, Dhoni finished things off with a six. And Taylor stood there, waiting to shake his hands.

N ZONE
288
No. of runs India chased down against Zimbabwe on Saturday. It is their highest score while batting second in all World Cup games

196
No. of runs Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni added, making it India's sixth-highest stand in a World Cup game. It is India's best while chasing in World Cups

71.50
Raina's average in World Cup matches. In seven innings, the southpaw has scored 286 runs. This was, however, his first century in World Cup

433
No. of runs Brendan Taylor has notched up in the tournament, the highest for a Zimbabwe batsman in any World Cup, surpassing 367 by Neil Johnson in 1999

9
No. of batsmen who've scored two successive World Cup tons. Apart from Taylor, Mahmudullah, Kumar Sangakkara, Mark Waugh, Rahul Dravid, AB de Villiers, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Saeed Anwar have achieved it

75
No. of runs R Ashwin gave away in this match, his most expensive figures in ODI history. His previous worse was 74 against West Indies in Visakhapatnam in 2011

DID YOU KNOW?
MS Dhoni won the match for India with a six for the ninth time in his career