India have Zimbabwe on the ropes
John Ward - 8 June 2001
India have a good chance of a three-day victory in the First Test
match at the Queen's Sports Club in Bulawayo, as after day two
Zimbabwe had lost three second-innings wickets and were still 66 runs
behind.
India began the day 90 runs behind Zimbabwe's first-innings total of
173 with seven wickets in hand. Night-watchman Javagal Srinath (1)
flicked the second ball of the day towards square leg, only for Guy
Whittall to take a superb diving catch to his left. Then Sourav
Ganguly (5) was adjudged to have edged a rising delivery from Heath
Streak to wicket-keeper Andy Flower, and India were 98 for five.
However, two master batsmen were still there in Sachin Tendulkar and
Rahul Dravid. They set themselves to blunt the Zimbabwe attack and
seldom looked in any difficulty. They were soon scoring at more than
four an over without ever looking to be in a hurry. Tendulkar's fifty
took 106 balls and for once Dravid took most of the limelight with his
classic drives and pulls. Then Andy Blignaut came on to bowl and
Tendulkar helped himself to three boundaries in his erratic first
over.
However, it was Blignaut who broke through, as just before lunch
Tendulkar (74) slashed at a ball moving away outside off stump and
Stuart Carlisle at second slip hurled himself to his right to hold a
brilliant catch. India had just taken the lead and at the interval
were 179 for six.
After lunch a good partnership again seemed to be developing as Dravid
and Sameer Dighe picked up runs steadily. The Blignaut again surprised
everyone by taking a wicket; Dravid (44), after hitting two exquisite
fours in an over, was perhaps over-eager for a third and skied a catch
to Flower behind the stumps. At 208 for seven, India had only the tail
to come.
Dighe and Harbhajan Singh were not deterred, though, and hit out
merrily, especially the latter. The Zimbabwe attack, lacking Olonga
with an injury, was unable to make any impression. Finally Streak did
the trick with the second new ball, dismissing Dighe for 47, caught
down the leg side off a bad ball. The partnership of 72 may yet prove
to be the turning point of the match as it turned a moderately small
lead into a very significant one. Once again Zimbabwe conceded a major
eighth-wicket partnership, a frequent habit in recent years.
This was just before tea was due, and in the same over Streak produced
a much better delivery to bowl Zahir Khan (0) off the inside edge,
resulting in a delay of the interval. Harbhajan went on to reach his
fifty, and the last pair survived half an hour until tea. Off the last
ball before the interval, Brighton Watambwa took a superb diving
return catch off bat and pad off Harbhajan, only to have umpire Harper
erroneously rule it not out.
Shortly after the interval, Watambwa fumbled a return to miss a clear
run-out opportunity. He got his wicket the same over, though, when
Singh (66 off 71 balls) top-edged a pull to be caught at mid-on. India
totalled 318, a lead of 145. Streak and Watambwa took three wickets
each.
When Zimbabwe went in again, Whittall cut a couple of boundaries over
the slips, but Dion Ebrahim struggled and failed to score before being
caught at short leg without scoring. On current evidence, it seems to
have been a misguided effort to turn this young middle-order batsman
into an opener, and he showed in the Academy match how short of
confidence he is at present.
Zimbabwe almost suffered the incredible bad luck of falling foul of
cricket's most unfair law twice in the same match when Carlisle played
a beautiful straight drive that glanced the stumps at the bowler's end
on its way to the boundary with Whittall probably out of his crease;
fortunately Nehra's groping hand just failed to touch it.
Whittall continued to play positively, but on 20 he cut once too often
and was brilliantly caught low in the gully by Sadagoppan Ramesh. At
34 for two, Zimbabwe were in deep trouble. Carlisle and Alistair
Campbell fought with determination until the latter was caught at
short leg off Harbhajan for 16. At close, Zimbabwe were 79 for three,
with Carlisle on 27 and night-watchman Brian Murphy 10.
Play finished 55 minutes late this time, a real indictment of both the
players and the ICC who are quite incapable of enforcing acceptable
over rates.
© CricInfo
Teams
|
India,
Zimbabwe.
|
Players/Umpires
|
Sachin Tendulkar,
Javagal Srinath,
Rahul Dravid,
Sourav Ganguly,
Sameer Dighe,
Harbhajan Singh,
Ashish Nehra,
Heath Streak,
Andy Blignaut,
Guy Whittall,
Dion Ebrahim,
Stuart Carlisle,
Alistair Campbell,
Brian Murphy.
|
Tours
|
India in Zimbabwe
|
Scorecard
|
1st Test: Zimbabwe v India, 7-11 Jun 2001 |
Grounds
|
Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
|