Lokesh Rahul's golden duck wicket was a real beauty, says Donald Tiripano by Bipin Dani

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Ground:	Harare Sports Club, Harare
Scorecard:	Zimbabwe v India
Player:	KL Rahul, DT Tiripano
Event:	India in Zimbabwe 2016

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DateLine: 19th June 2016

 

Mumbai, June 19 : On Saturday, it was the FIRST time India had lost a wicket (Lokesh Rahul) of the first ball of their innings in a T20, according to the cricket statistician, Bharath Seervi. And Dhoni knows the pain as he was out (0) on 2nd ball in his debut T20 against SA (at Johannesburg) in 2006. India have lost the wicket on second ball 4 times in T20s.

 

For Donald Tiripano, the 28-year old Zimbabwe's pacer, Lokesh Rahul's wicket in his debut T-20 was an icing on the cake. Rahul had scored a hundred on his ODI debut but had a golden duck on Saturday.

 

Speaking exclusively over his mobile from Harare, the right-arm medium pacer Tiripano said, "Firstly I thank God. Just before I ran in I was imagining myself nicking him off, but it happened another way but all the same happy ending".

 

"All I was thinking was if I get an early wicket it was going to give us a good chance of winning the game and fortunately it worked out".

 

"It was a key wicket because he was winning matches for India in the past three ODIs and we knew if we take wickets the rest of the other India batters didn't bat the other games. So we knew it was game on".

 

"I was happy because I (clean) bowled him".

 

The Zimbabwean players didn't celebrate their first win of the ongoing T20 victory. Instead, players returned home. "There were no celebrations. The celebrations are put on hold. It is 1-0 now. Will celebrate after the series win", one of the senior players said.

 

Only the outstation players stay in the hotel. The players living in Harare go to their homes.

 

"We prefer to stay at home rather than in the hotel. Most of the Harare players from Harare stay close to the ground".

 

"And yes, this saves Board money too".

 

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2016 Bipin Dani)