Delhi Test, Day 1, Close
Thursday, February 28, 2002

The pitch didn't deteriorate as much as we expected it to. It's very dry and the topsoil has started coming off, but it played pretty well in the final session. Dion Ebrahim batted very sensibly, and India had to conjure up a wicket from somewhere instead of relying on favours from the pitch. Their efforts to prise one out hadn't borne fruit, but then Ebrahim made a quite dreadful call to throw away Grant Flower's wicket.

I was slightly disappointed with the way Harbhajan Singh bowled today. I think it's time the coach sat down with him and had a discussion about bowling on pitches that aren't helpful. On such tracks, deception is all-important. He needs to beat the batsmen in the flight, and also bowl a much fuller length. It's quite telling that Harbhajan has no caught-and-bowled victims in Test cricket yet. It's not that difficult to deceive the lower-order batsmen if you can get them to drive.

I also thought Anil Kumble was overbowled. He wasn't consistently threatening, and it was disappointing to see Sachin Tendulkar not bowling a few more overs. Full marks though to Ebrahim. He may not be the most gifted batsman around, but he showed admirable resilience in his first Test match on Indian soil. He was quite assured against the spinners, and ensured that India had a mixed day in the field.

Zimbabwe will hope that Travis Friend continues his good run with the bat. If he and Ebrahim can nudge the total up to 350, that would make India's task of sweeping the series 2-0 so much more difficult.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the early 1990s, was talking to Dileep Premachandran.

More Sanjay Manjrekar
Day 1, Lunch: 'Nurture the outfield, neglect the pitch'
Day 1, Tea: 'Never discount the Flower factor'

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