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Match report India v Zimbabwe VB Series 3 Feb 2004
by John Ward


Scorecard:India v Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s tour of Australia drew to a disappointing conclusion with another defeat, this time by four wickets at the hands of India. But once again they did make a reasonable game of it, despite another poor batting performance.

 

The weather in Perth was hot, the Indian bowlers were hot and the batting on both sides was decidedly not so hot. Zimbabwe’s batsmen could not cope with the swing of the Indian bowlers; India’s batsmen struggled with the bounce of the Perth pitch. Without a gallant 34 not out from Hemang Badani, India might even have lost. As it was, the result was in doubt almost to the end.

 

The England team once jokingly labelled their then captain, Nasser Hussain, a ‘useless tosser’. The Zimbabwe team might have done the same with Heath Streak after he won only two tosses in the series, except that he was doing the calling rather than the tossing. In an effort to break the bad run, he insisted on tossing the coin himself this time and letting Rahul Dravid, stand-in captain for the resting Sourav Ganguly, make the error. He did, and Streak won. He probably wished he hadn’t a couple of hours later. But perhaps his main concern was probably to avoid batting under unfamiliar lights.

 

As if they did not have enough problems, Zimbabwe had to go into this match without Grant Flower, who broke the little finger of a hand in training. With Mark Vermeulen and Craig Wishart already out of action, their batting line-up selected itself. Stuart Matsikenyeri returned to the side, while it was decided to replace the struggling Douglas Hondo with Travis Friend, who was bowling better in the nets and the thought was that he might exploit the bouncy pitch as well as adding depth to the batting.

 

Zimbabwe were in trouble from the first over. Irfan Pathan found swing right from the start. Vusi Sibanda drove at the fourth ball, which moved away, found the edge of the bat and ended up in the hands of V V S Laxman at second slip. Dion Ebrahim took a single next ball, only for Tatenda Taibu to miss the next, which swung in to him and trapped him lbw. Zimbabwe were one run for two wickets after the first over.

 

Neither opener had done well for Zimbabwe during the tournament, and it might have been wiser to send in Ebrahim and next man Stuart Carlisle to open instead. Ebrahim briefly played quite well for his 7, looking positive, until Pathan and Laxman struck again. He failed to get across to a ball that bounced more than he expected and was caught at second slip.

 

This brought together the pair that had so nearly brought victory in Zimbabwe’s previous match against India. Both Carlisle and Sean Ervine settled in slowly, but had a brief respite when Ashish Nehra came on to bowl. Running up for his first ball, Nehra slipped and fell heavily. He continued his over but was naturally tentative, and Ervine helped himself to four boundaries, three through the covers.

 

Zimbabwe’s victory chase had been sent crashing in the previous match when Carlisle made a bad call for a run and Ervine was run out. This time, after adding 63 instead of 202, Ervine took his revenge. He played a ball to backward point, called for a run and then changed his mind with Carlisle racing halfway down the pitch. With no fielder at the bowler’s end, Yuvraj Singh needed to hit the stumps direct, and he managed. Carlisle was on his way back for 28.

 

Ervine, perhaps shaken up by his error, soon followed him for 23, hooking a bouncer from Amit Bhandari to deep fine leg. Once again a rescue act from Streak was called for, but he cannot do it every time. With the ball still swinging, he edged Lakshmipathy Balaji to the inevitable Laxman, departing for 6. Zimbabwe were now in deep trouble at 85 for six.

 

Apart from Matsikenyeri, the lower order showed little fight. Travis Friend, betrayed by the extra bounce, forced a ball off the back foot straight to extra cover, out for 1. Andy Blignaut finished a very disappointing tour by departing for 2, playing a hesitant stroke and edging to first slip. Raymond Price (0), who can play a sound defensive game but has recently opted for a more positive approach, abandoned defence when it was needed, lashed out at Pathan and provided Laxman with his fourth catch of the innings; 115 for nine.

 

A bit more resilience was shown by last man Blessing Mahwire, who hung around for 32 minutes to score 8 not out. Matsikenyeri batted soundly but never tried to dominate, and was last out for 36, driving at Bhandari, perhaps aiming too straight, and edging to Dravid, who was lumbered with the wicket-keeping job as well as the captaincy.

 

Zimbabwe totalled a miserable 135 on what was basically a good batting pitch. Pathan, who started the rout and was to be awarded Man of the Match, took four for 24 and Bhandari three for 31. India’s bowlers had done a superb job and they were batting before lunch.

 

It seemed as if the match would be over in quick time, as a bad first over from Streak cost 13 runs. Streak bowled too short, which doesn’t suit him, but it was soon clear that all the Zimbabwe pacemen had decided the best way to make their mark would be to bounce out the Indians on a lively pitch.

 

Virender Sehwag predictably decided to fight fire with fire, going for his strokes in fine style, several of them airborne and just evading the fielders. Sachin Tendulkar, who has missed several matches with a nagging injury, did not look comfortable or confident and fell for 3, lashing at a short ball from Streak and being caught at the wicket. India were 28 for one, and this was only the third over.

 

Sehwag was so impatient to attack that Laxman had to restrain him in the over before lunch, the sixth of the innings. He wasted his time. Sehwag slashed at Blignaut and was caught near the third-man boundary for 23 off 22 balls. India were 34 for two, and Zimbabwe went into lunch with a ray of hope.

 

After lunch they bowled a barrage of short balls at the Indians, inviting them to risk the pace and steepness of the bounce with pulls or cuts. Laxman and Dravid played with restraint, although Laxman was quick to lash the bad ball to the boundary – and as usual Blignaut bowled quite a few. Then Zimbabwe had a slice of luck, as the often impregnable Dravid played back defensively to Blignaut and the ball bounced on to his wicket; 61 for three.

 

Yuvraj made 4 before pulling Ervine to hole out on the leg boundary, and India were 73 for four. Laxman was the key batsman now, and Zimbabwe redoubled their efforts to secure his wicket. Friend, once Zimbabwe’s fastest bowler but now seemingly unable to work up the same pace he had several years ago, was as erratic as usual – short and liable to bowl wides – but he did have Laxman dropped off a skyer as he hooked, a very difficult chance.

 

It took another slice of luck, rare to Zimbabwe, to remove Laxman: he hooked at Ervine and the ball hit his body and bounced on to the stumps. He made 32 out of 105 for five; India’s last five wickets needed 31 runs, but they were handling the bounce so badly it was by no means an easy task.

 

A run-out 10 runs later further hindered India’s cause. Rohan Gavaskar played a ball to square leg and called for a quick single; he and Badani met in the middle of the pitch before Badani decided to return home, leaving Gavaskar stranded for 4.

 

Fortunately for India, Badani handled his sin more effectively than Ervine had done. He continued to go for his strokes and four overs later a fine off-side boundary saw a relieved India home to an unexpectedly tight victory. Pathan was his partner, unbeaten with 3, and India had only three tailenders to come. Blignaut and Ervine had two wickets each and Zimbabwe’s unsuccessful tour had come to a typical ending. Hopefully, at least, the experience will serve their players well.

 


(Article: Copyright © 2004 John Ward)

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