Indians take on Zimbabwe A in practice game
21 June 2001
The Indian touring team get into the one-day groove, ahead of the
upcoming triangular series, with a practice game against Zimbabwe A at
the Sunrise Club in Harare on Friday.
India's one-day specialists Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Dinesh Mongia
Virender Sehwag and Harvinder Singh, who joined the rest of the side
on Wednesday, would use this opportunity to stake a claim for a berth
in the one-day squad.
The match would also help the Indian batsmen, who disappointed by
their poor performance in the second and final Test at Harare, gain
confidence on the fast and bouncy pitches here.
The Indians would be relieved somewhat by the news that Andrew Flower
has been ruled out of the entire triangular series with a broken right
thumb. He was hurt while collecting the first ball Andy Blignaut sent
down on the fourth morning of the second Test which Indian captain
Sourav Ganguly let go outside the off-stump.
Flower's absence will rob the series of much glamour since it was
expected that he, along with Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara would
provide a three-way contest for batting honours in the series.
In the absence of the gifted wicketkeeper-batsman, Tatind Taibu is set
to make his international debut for Zimbabwe and he should have a
useful practice game against the visitors.
Paul Strang, the leg-spinner and utility batsman, is in the Zimbabwe A
team for Friday's game and after being ignored for the Test series,
will be keen to make an impression on the selectors. Also in the
reckoning would be Bryan Strang, a left-arm medium-pacer.
The Indians, meanwhile, had a practice session and a work-out in the
gym today.
Ganguly left with Sodhi and team's physio Andrew Leipus for the CFX
Academy ground early this morning for the nets. The rest of the team
followed them along with coach John Wright two hours later and the
squad had practice right in the middle of the ground, on the wickets
at the square.
Tendulkar, who is taking it easy and does not want to strain his
hamstring, had a few knocks in the middle.
Seamer Ashish Nehra, who has a thigh strain, kept doing specific
exercises as prescribed by physio Andrew Leipus. Nehra has a crick in
the neck, Leipus said, but there is little danger of him missing any
matches in the one-day series.
The teams:
Zimbabwe A: Paul Strang, Gary Brent, Hamilton Masakdza, Stuart
Matekendra, David Mutendera, Gavin Rennie, Barney Rogers, Bryan
Strang, Tatiend Taibu, Dirk Viljoen and Craig Wishart.
Indians (from): Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Rahul
Dravid, Virendra Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Sameer
Dighe, Ashish Nehra, Harvinder Singh and Zaheer Khan.
© PTI
Teams
|
India,
Zimbabwe.
|
Players/Umpires
|
Sachin Tendulkar,
Sourav Ganguly,
VVS Laxman,
Rahul Dravid,
Virender Shewag,
Dinesh Mongia,
Reetinder Sodhi,
Harvinder Singh,
Zaheer Khan,
Bryan Strang,
Paul Strang,
Dirk Viljoen,
Craig Wishart.
|
Tours
|
India in Zimbabwe
|
Grounds
|
Sunrise Sports Club, Harare
|