Date-stamped : 17 Feb97 - 02:18 Match report - The Hindu Zimbabwe upstages India By G. Viswanath BULAWAYO, Feb. 15. The Zimbabweans aspire to give a fitting finale to their home season. It has been its best season ever in five years of international cricket after it was accorded Test status. Under Alistair Campbell, they have shown the kind of spirit that saw them merit a creditable draw and win the one day series against Michael Atherton`s England one month ago. They were a trifle unfortunate not to make the final of the Standard Bank tri-series in South Africa, but portrayed the competitive will to stretch South Africa and India. At the Queens Sports Club here on Saturday, Zimbabwe showed the urgency to overwhelm India in a match interrupted by rain twice in the afternoon session. The target of 136 in 38 overs was achieved in a manner which showed its dominance over the Indian bowlers. Campbell had good reason to hit back at the Indians. The tied result at Paarl in South Africa had disappointed them as it denied them of two full points. And then at Benoni, Sachin Tendulkar`s full scale aggression and Robin Singh and Ajay Jadeja`s 83-run stand had prevented them from making the final. The result at Benoni left them dazed, but in bone chilling conditions here Zimbabwe`s batsmen, without exception, smashed the Indian bowling to notch a convincing win; its second win over India in 15 one dayers. In the forefront of the assault was openers Grant Flower and Andrew Waller. Flower, the right hander, has been in good form this season and he carved out another unbeaten half century. Zimbabwe`s initial target was 168 in 44 overs, but rain interruptions at the end of the 11th and 14th overs further reduced the match to 38 overs and Zimbabwe was given a new target of 136 runs. At the second stoppage, Zimbabwe had already scored 68 for one which meant that it needed to score only 68 runs from 24 overs. Debutant Ganesh _ Javagal Srinath was rested, and Salil Ankola was dropped _ after being punished by Waller, finally got his first wicket when he had the opener bowled. Waller was earlier dropped by Ganesh off Venkatesh Prasad. The threat of rain was one factor which may have compelled the Zimbabwe batsmen to attack the Indian bowlers. There were shots going all over the park and the Zimbabwe batsmen did not lose an opportunity to hit over the in field. Flower and Campbell pummeled the Indian bowling during the second wicket partnership which made certain that Zimbabwe would win with plenty of overs remaining. It eventually did it in under 26 overs. Campbell`s positive stroke against Kumble saw him edge to Azharuddin who took the sharp catch at slip. But it was only a matter of time before Flower and Whittal brought about a roaring finish to the match. That 19 fours were hit in an apt indication of the fast clip at which Zimbabwe chased the target. In the end Flower remained undefeated on 61, his third half century in seven one day matches. But the Man of the Match award went to fast bowler Heath Streak whose five wicket spell, was only the third by a Zimbabwe bowler. Zimbabwe in revengeful mood There was unambiguous suggestions here today of Zimbabwe`s enthusiasm to avenge its defeat at the hands of India at Benoni in the Standard Bank tri-series in South Africa. The Benoni reverse had hastened its return home when it was actually in an upbeat mood after its first win against India at the Centurion Park and confident of making it to the final of the tri-series. After the engaging final at the Kingsmead, the Indians may have been overly relaxed in their mind and somewhat diffident in focussing on the first of the two one-day internationals at the Queens Sports Club. That day the Indians required the diligent batting by Robin Singh and Anil Kumble to save themselves from humiliation. This has been one tour in which Robin Singh can be said to be the ``find`` and it was the left hander`s initiative that baulked the Zimbabwe bowlers from making the match a one-sided contest. The seventh wicket stand, for the first time, displayed a meaningful attitude and approach. Bowlers like Craig Evans and Guy Whittal may have bowled at military medium, but they had to be still worked around. Kumble opened out with two boundaries off Brandes and Streak. A total of 200 was never considered a possibility, but Robin Singh`s 100 minute 63-ball defiance changed all that. Here today the setting was typically English, one of those rare one day Internationals which started in thin rain. The cyclone over the Mozambique Channel has been active over the week and there is much speculation of the second one dayer at Harare on Monday being a non-starter. After 4.15 p.m. (IST) on Saturday, the news was that the ground at the Harare Sports Club was water logged due to another spell of heavy showers on Friday night. The Zimbabweans say not in the last ten years have they had so much rain. But Bulawayo has been fortunate enough in the sense that it had some respite from rain yesterday and the groundstaff got sufficient time to work on the outfield. The match was delayed by 45 minutes, and a 44-over match was made possible. Sachin Tendulkar may have put Zimbabwe in the event of the winning the toss. It was cold and windy and Tendulkar may not have had any clue to the nature of the pitch. But his counterpart, Alistair Campbell, was obviously aware and his decision to put the Indians in seemed logical. Tendulkar did not open the innings with Saurav Ganguly, but with Vikram Rathore who went into bat after close to a one-month break after the third Test at The Wanderers. Six balls from Eddo Brandes was enough for Tendulkar and Rathore to determine the swing and seam movement and bounce of the pitch. They may have been reminded of Kingsmead where the South African fast bowlers shot out the Indians for 66 and 100 in the first Test. The cloud cover here and seaming and bouncing conditions did not give much leeway for Tendulkar to challenge Brands and John Rennie, who cut down his speed and used the seam to get appreciable inward movement. Tendulkar`s advice to his team has been to go out and hit the ball and play good cricket. He was the first one to adhere to this policy when he charged out and lifted Brandes over the wide long off fence. But Brandes soon had his revenge when he forced Tendulkar to edge an outswinger which was snapped up by Grant Flower at slip. There has been question marks against Rathore`s technical adequacy, but this was not a match he had to strictly stick to the basics. After edging Brandes between the wicketkeeper and the first slip for his first four, Rathore was beginning to be more correct in his defence to the short deliveries. In fact two drives through cover and extra-cover of Guy Whittal and Paul Strang were sure enough signs of his intentions to bat freely and step up the scoring rate. Ganguly was never in a position to judge the seam movement. He was not given the width to place his shots square of the off side. His poor running between the wickets and responding to calls has seen him getting run out quite a few times on the tour. Ganguly should realise that it was his sluggish approach that saw him get out after he had found the gap between short cover and extracover. Rathore stopped well in time to send back Ganguly who was too late to cover a couple of yards at the non- striker`s end and Strang`s throw from deep cover was on top of the stumps for Rennie to dislodge the bails. Heath Streak`s five-wicket spell started with Ajay Jadeja`s wicket. Jadeja`s forward defensive bat was not the correct answer to the one which Streak managed to kick up from short of a good length and the bounce sent back the batsman defeated. Azharuddin seemed to be getting into the groove when he punched Rennie to the cover fence. But in a session when the pitch was never going to be easy and when the batsmen are not focussed, Zimbabwe sustained its diligent methods. Azharuddin`s intended backfoot push to point took the edge to Andy Flower. There was some drama after Azharuddin took a few steps towards the pavilion, but got back to his crease with no sign of umpire Ian Robinson giving a verdict. It was almost close to 30 seconds before Robinson raised his finger following a unified appeal by Andy Flower, the bowler Brandes and the fielders. There were three changes from the team that played the tri- series final at Kingsmead on Thursday. Nayan Mongia came in for Saba Karim, who has been pressing his selection in the eleven following his half century against South Africa at Bloemfontein. Mongia got an opportunity today to stay put and play a long innings, but a weak pull shot off Streak lobbed into the hands of Waller at mid-on. It was after Mongia`s dismissal that the Indian batsmen really put their heart into the game and it was Robin Singh and Anil Kumble`s 64-run stand (for the seventh wicket) that helped India reach a modest score of 168. There was never a doubt that the pitch and the conditions were not ideal for one day cricket, but the Indian batsman`s approach here today put them in an embarrassing situation. Steak`s five for 32 was his best effort which took him one short of 50 wickets in one day Internationals. There was nothing exceptional from him on the day, but his straight line of attack, and the movement of the pitch aided him largely. Jadeja was one batsman he had through pace and bounce. He was in fact on a hat- trick after he had Kumble and Joshi who was adjudged lbw by umpire Russel Tiffin. But Doda Ganesh dug out a yorker-length delivery to deny Streak the hat-trick. Source :: The Hindu ( http://www.hinduonline.com ) Contributed by Vishwa ( vg@cricinfo.com )