The Evans savagery saw Zimbabwe plunder 40 runs in three overs -- eight in the 33rd bowled by Sachin Tendulkar, 18 in the 34th by Ajit Agarkar and 14 in the 35th by Tendulkar.

Rahul Sanghvi, surprisingly banished after a two-over first spell for eight runs, was reintroduced into the attack at this juncture by Mohammed Azharuddin. And the skipper's Midas touched worked yet again. Sanghvi got the breakthrough by enticing Evans out of his crease and having him stumped by Nayan Mongia.

Kumble then got rid off the experienced Andy Flower before Sanghvi took two return catches off Guy Whittall and Craig Wishart tobring about the turnaround.

Zimbabwe lost yet another match which they should have won. Zimbabwe --penalised one over for slow over-rate -- scored briskly through openers Grant Flower and Alistair Campbell, who added 121 for the opening wicket at virtually the asking rate of 5.61 they needed for victory at the start of the innings.

But they squandered the advantage in a jiffy as Kanitkar and Tendulkar scalped three wickets between. Evans rekindled the hopes scoring 47 off 36 balls. But once he left, Zimbabwe were in trouble.

Zimbabwe's inexperience was visible. When they do their post-mortem of the match, they would have to pin a lot of blame on the 30 extras they conceded, including the 17 additional balls they bowled by way of wides and no balls. Also, skipper Campbell looked to have erred by not allowing his most cost-effective bowler, Npumello Mbwangwa, his full quota of ten overs. It seemed particularly inexplicable when one all the other bowlers -- barring Streak -- were collared, with one of thenconceding 70 in nine overs.

Earlier, India, put into bat, struggled in the early morning seamer-friendly conditions as the ball beat the bat with monotonous regularity. Even a batsman of Sachin Tendulkar's calibre could not get into his stroking rhythm as both Streak and Mbwangwa coming in for Dirk Viljoen put the shackles on the scoring.

Matters became worse when India lost their two best batsmen in consecutive balls. First, Tendulkar was run out when non-striker Saurav Ganguly did not respond to his call for a sharp single and then Azhar gave a regulation catch to first slip, beaten by the bounce and movement of a Streak delivery.

In such situations in the past, India have rarely showed the ability to fight their way into a position of strength. But this Indian team is showing a refreshing change in lot of areas.

The first salvo of a counter was fired by Vinod Kambli, a rasping cover-drive for four off Mbwangwa in the 10th over followed by another scorcher through mid-wicket offStreak.

Ganguly, Jadeja lead fightback

Ganguly, who looked uncharacteristic and ungainly for a major part of his innings, took the cue from Kambli to drive and flicked Guy Whittall for fours in the 20th over. The run-rate, which was hovering just over two in the first 10 overs, began picking up. The partnership was worth 78 in 86 balls when Kambli hoisted Andy Whittall over long-on for a six. But off the very next ball, Kambli got himself needlessly run out.

But it was Ajay Jadeja, the centurion at Kochi, who put India in a match-winning position. He first added 72 in 89 balls for the 4th wicket with Ganguly and 79 in 63 balls with Kanitkar.

Jadeja played second fiddle in the fourth wicket stand as Ganguly grew in confidence with passage of time. The Bengal southpaw used his feet to wade into the lofted essays -- one which, off Andrew Huckle, cleared the shamianas beyond midwicket.

Jadeja may have taken 40 balls to score his first boundary. But he was never guilty of getting bogged down.Jadeja's power to accelerate his scoring yet again prove his great value in overs-limit cricket. He played a major role in India's neatly-paced innings. India scored at 8.33 in the last 15 overs in which 125 runs were accrued.

Man of the Match Kanitkar gave another proof of his all-round value. He began with a fantastic six over covers off Evans and followed it up with a late cut for four. He then sliced Streak to the boundary as the Indian charge was on from both ends. But in the end analysis, the final two overs, bowled by Guy Whittall and Streak respectively, tilted the fortunes of the match. India scored 15 off the Guy Whittal over and 13 off Streak.

Jadeja, who scored an unbeaten hundred at Kochi, returned unconquered yet again. The pick of his stroke was a six over long-off off Guy Whittall, slamming him with almost nil footwork.

The Highlights

India and Zimbabwe recorded their highest total against each other during their Pepsi tri-series match at the IPCL Stadium in Vadodara today.India surpassed their previous highest of 266 for eight in 60 overs by scoring 274 for five in 50 overs. Zimbabwe passed their previous highest of 248 in 50 overs by making 262 in 48.3 overs.