Deepak Hooda has played 16 matches for India since his debut, and has never been on the losing side.
- Abhimanyu Bose
As India beat Zimbabwe by 5 wickets in the 2nd ODI in Harare on Saturday, all-rounder Deepak Hooda notched an impressive, and rather unique, world record. Since his international debut, India have won every match that he has played in, across formats. Hooda has now been part of 16 successive wins for India, which is the longest ‘unbeaten’ streak for any player after debut. India have won seven ODIs and nine T20Is with Hooda in the team since he played his first international match in February this year.
Romania’s Satvik Nadigotla held the record of 15 matches won since debut, while South Africa star David Miller and Romania’s Shantanu Vashisht enjoyed winning streaks of 13 games since they played their first international match.
Hooda picked a wicket and scored 25 with the bat as India chased down the 162-run target with just a little less than half their overs still remaining.
India won the toss and opted to bat at the Harare Sports Club. Zimbabwe’s woes with the bat continued as they were bowled out for 161 in 38.1 overs.
This was the seventh consecutive time that India bowled Zimbabwe out.
Shardul Thakur was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with three wickets.
Hooda, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav all picked one wicket each.
KL Rahul, who did not get a chance to bat in the first match, promoted himself to open, but he was out for 1 off 5 deliveries.
However, Zimbabwe’s total was too low and India had too much firepower in their lineup to win on a canter, despite losing five wickets.
Sanju Samson top-scored with an unbeaten 43, while Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill made 33 each.
With the win, India have secured the series with a match to go.