Zimbabwe fight back on day two
Prem Panicker
For a team batting last -- on a track, what's more, that is expected to be good for batting till day three before taking progressive turn -- it is considered imperative to take the lead on the first innings.
From that point of view, Zimbabwe played day two to perfection, digging deep, focussing on time-spend in the middle, and keeping the Indian bowlers at bay after the visiting side had, through Ashish Nehra, struck three very quick blows late on the first evening.
Yet again, the two Flowers, Andy and Grant, had a substantial role to play in the recovery. Which is pretty predictable. What was more noteworthy was the way Dion Ebrahim, the dimunitive opener who looked so much at sea in the first Test, came into his own with a display of fluid strokemaking, excelling in drives through the mid off and extra cover regions; Heath Streak, who played a fine captain's hand in a 65-run partnership with Grant Flower for the 6th wicket, and Andy Blignaut, who backed his attacking instincts to blast the ball around the park in a 7th wicket stand with Grant Flower that pushed Zimbabwe past the Indian total.
A good team effort on a good batting strip, and Zimbabwe was helped a bit early on by the fact that Ashish Nehra, India's star on day one, got a bit carried away and tried to do too much in terms of pace. Control, length and line are Nehra's forte, and his quest for pace meant that he lost out on those advantages. This meant that in the first hour of the morning, when conditions for bowling were at their best, Nehra's bowling lacked the sting of yesterday.
By contrast, Ajit Agarkar produced a superb first spell, bowling easily the quickest of the bowlers on view in this series, pushing up to around the 89.3 mph mark and more to the point, holding to a very good line and length in a consistently fast, accurate opening spell.
In course of it, he should have had both overnight not outs, Andy Flower and Dion Ebrahim, LBW -- on both occasions, getting good pace and length and just enough swing to beat the defensive pushes and hit the pad bang in line.
But that belongs in the 'ifs' column, along with a caught behind appeal by Harbhajan off Andy Blignaut later in the day. On the record, there was Andy Flower, who when he got to 18 completed 1000 runs in 7 Tests against India, with three centuries and 6 fifties and an average of above 148.
With that pedigree behind him, Andy Flower played a cool, controlled innings while, at the other end, Dion Ebrahim shrugged off the uncertainities of the first Test and played a free-flowing game, shrugging off the occasional lapses in concentration and indulged in free-flowing drives to the seam bowlers whenever he got either length, or line, to work with.
Harbhajan's introduction shortly before lunch turned the game around just when the two overnight batsmen seemed to have the measure of the bowling. Andy Flower, who till then was circumspect, reverse swept the first ball for four, paddled the second for a brace, glanced the third one fine for four, produced another classic reverse sweep for four more off the fourth. It seemed as though Zimbabwe's best player of spin was hell bent on hitting the offie out of the attack before he could settle -- but Harbhajan struck back with the last ball of the over, holding one back a bit, looping it a bit more and forcing Andy Flower to push defensively for Das to snap up a very sharp chance, on the dive, at short square leg.
The 87-run partnership had hauled Zimbabwe back from the brink. Harbhajan, though, struck yet again when he had the increasingly assured Dion Ebrahim trapped in front with his third over. Ebrahim gave the offie the charge, the bowler spotted the intent and pushed one through fuller and quicker, beating the batsman, squaring him up and hitting the back pad in front of middle stump to end a fine innings by the young player who came into this tour with a good record for Zimbabwe A behind him.
Zimbabwe went in to lunch on 113/5, having added 82 runs in the morning session off 27 overs for the loss of Andy Flower and Dion Ebrahim.
Post lunch play belonged to Heath Streak and Grant Flower. The latter settled down to the long, hard grind with the patience he displayed in the second innings of the first Test, while the Zimbabwe skipper played the role of aggressor. Batting conditions were at their best, and the Indian bowlers, backed by good athletic fielding, could do little more than bank on line, length and hope.
The 65-run association between Streak and Grant Flower put Zimbabwe into an increasingly good position, and when the wicket came it was against the run of play. Sachin Tendulkar was introduced into the attack and, in his second over, Streak pushed his pad a long way outside off, head in the air and eyes off the ball. The top spinner skidded onto the batsman, hit the side of the front knee, and richocheted onto the stumps -- a soft dismissal and reminiscent of how Streak got Tendulkar in the Indian innings.
The post-lunch session, Zimbabwe's best, produced 101 runs off 31 overs, for the loss of Streak as Zimbabwe went in to tea on 214/6.
Play, post tea, belonged to Andy Blignaut. His reputation is that of a free spirit with the bat, and on the day he lived up to it, a big backswing and full flourish on the follow through ensuring that even mishits had the legs to clear the infield. Two huge sixes off Harbhajan Singh, one over midwicket and the other over long off, punctuated an innings played at blistering pace, that spearheaded a partnership of 67 off 87 balls.
Harbhajan finally got his man when he floated one up higher, looped it more and dropped it just short of length. The batsman was drawn forward, and beaten for turn for Dighe to complete the stumping, Blignaut walking back with 35 against his name. That should have been 29, Blignaut lucky to survive a caught behind off the same bowler in the previous over, then adding insult to injury by whacking the offie over long off for the second of his two sixes.
Grant Flower, who during his partnerships with Streak and Blignaut seemed content to play second fiddle, took on the onus once debutant Travis Friend joined him. Like his brother Andy, Grant Flower favours the shots square on either side of the deck off the back foot. Here, he was rarely if ever on the front foot driving in the V -- when the length afforded, he still preferred to play his front foot shots through the cover region, hitting the cover drives with a lovely balance and flourish through the shot. Equally remarkable, is his judgement on the leave outside off -- but then again, given that he was once an opener, that is not so surprising.
Travis Friend on debut hung around long enough to have irritant value, and contributed 15 to the Zimbabwe lead before Ashish Nehra cleaned him up. With the second new ball, Nehra got back to doing what he does best, cutting back a bit on pace, looking for the full length and seaming the ball away, and sometimes in, to the right hander. Friend was lucky time and again to miss edging through to the keeper, and after two such misses, Nehra made the next ball bend back off the seam, at full length, going through the gate to peg back off stump.
Incidentally, Nehra's performance here must be a bit of an embarassment to the selectors. Given Srinath's perceptible decline in pace, Nehra has elevated himself into the lead bowler's slot. Like Watambwa for Zimbabwe, his forte is his control and line, which makes the batsman have to play at almost every delivery -- and now, he finds himself readying for the long flight back home while Harvinder Singh gets to fly in for the one dayers, and Debashish Mohanty, who hasn't had to bowl a ball in anger in this series, gets to stay back. There is, obviously, some logic behind this -- but it sure beats the heck out of me.
Brian Murphy proved as sticky as his predecessor. Unlike Blignaut, his shots do not carry conviction -- but when he slashes, it is hard, and given that Zimbabwe has to bat last here, every run he helped Grant Flower add was worth its weight in, well, runs. Agarkar was third time unlucky when, in the dying moments, he got Brian Murphy's edge with a good seamer around off only to see his statemate, Sachin Tendulkar, put down the sharp chance.
Grant Flower was the cynosure today, for the enormous patience he brought to his job. The common factor in a series of important partnerships, his performance was most remarkable for the fact that at no time did he lapse in concentration.
The other notable fact is that an increasingly fit Indian team seems to have benefitted from Wright's disciplinary regime. In the past, when a team fights back, the Indians have tended to slump, and play loose cricket, completely abdicating control. Here, as in the first Test, they remained sharp in the field, played the patience game well, and ensured that the opposition had to work for their runs.
Zimbabwe in the final session scored 87 runs off 34 overs for the loss of 2 wickets, going in with a handy lead of 64 runs and with Grant Flower still unconquered on 80. 13 wickets fell on the first day, just 5 on the second day -- a testimony to how much the track has eased off.
More to the point, Zimbabwe's handy lead of 64 makes the game interesting. Even granting that batting in the fourth innings is going to be difficult, India will need a good 275 at least, as lead, to feel comfortable. And the lead makes it all the more difficult for India to get those runs, and sends them in for the second innings under pressure.
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