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Sachin Tendulkar, who had of late been considered as being somewhat of an extraterrestrial, finally admitted his kinship to the mortals of this world, when he flew home for his father's funeral. In his absence Azhar and his men managed to prove conclusively that they are indeed only half the team in Tendulkar's absence. It was more than mere pangs of separation.

Winning the toss in this most crucial of matches, Azhar opted to put the Zimbabweans in on a fairly good batting track. The rest, as they say, was not history.

The Zimbabweans had always fancied their chances against India, winning four of their last ten matches to India's five. Their intentions were very clear-cut from the very beginning, but they would be the first to admit that they were helped in no small measure by some very wayward bowling and quite inexplicable goings-on in the field.

Azharuddin's ears did not show any signs of earphones (his would have been designer ones, of course). It would be fair to assume, then, that that he was responsible for what was happening on the field. Ganguly being taken off after only five overs for a wicket and 22 runs, and Agarkar being persisted with for nine overs for 81 runs are not really the stuff that legendary captaincies are made of.

Nothing however should detract from the methodical manner with which the Zimbabweans went on farming the lacklustre Indian bowling. However poor the bowling might be, it still has to be put away, and that the men in red did with remarkable and clinical efficiency. The old firm of Flower & Flower gave the innings a solid footing, with the older of the two remaining alive and kicking right till the end with a masterly 60-plus. As if that was not bad enough for India, they were penalised four overs for slow over rate as well.

When the time came for the Indian batting to come into its own, the captain let them down again. Whichever way Indian fortunes might lie in this tournament, one fact remains inescapable. As Ashek Elahi (whose recent utterings on contemporary events have to be taken seriously) put it succinctly, Sonia Gandhi is more likely to become Prime Minister, than Azhar is to remain captain of India.

Meanwhile at Northampton, bizarre events were unfolding. Sri Lanka managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. After struggling for the better part of the last few months, Sri Lanka finally managed to put things in perspective by bowling well enough to restrict South Africa to manageable proportions. But Sri Lankan form does not yet permit it to perform well in all departments of the game. While the heart wanted Sri Lanka to stage an upset, the head debated strongly. Not surprisingly, therefore the Sri Lankan batting crumbled against the rampant relentless robocops of modern-day cricket. Que sera, sera.