Ebrahim, Andy Flower prop Zimbabwe

With no blade of grass on a bare Ferozeshah Kotla square in Delhi, and cracks and loose soil, the second Test between India and Zimbabwe promised to take turn from day one.

Zimbabwe, a Test down -- after having suffered a humiliating innings defeat at Nagpur -- hoped that Andy Flower, their only batsman with a Test average of 30-plus, would find form to put up some semblance of a fight. The tourists finished the first day at 260 for 6, with Dion Ebrahim sweeping himself to 82 runs and set for his maiden Test hundred.

Almost a year and a day to one of the most absorbing series between India and Australia, the man responsible for the remarkable turnaround in India’s favour sat in the dressing room as the 12th man for the Test.

V V S Laxman, the enigma of Indian cricket, was edged out of the final eleven in favour of the young Virendra Sehwag; while Zimbabwe swapped Gavin Rennie for Dion Ebrahim.

Morning session:

Stuart Carlisle called right at the toss and chose to make first use of the wicket, which would deteriorate as the game progressed.

The visiting skipper though didn’t wait long enough at the crease. Javagal Srinath struck in the first over of the day with a delivery short of length nipping back into the right-handed Carlisle and displacing the bails on its way to the keeper, who loyally grassed the ball. The bowler was unaware of the dismissal till the close-in fielders ran to him, celebrating the dismissal of the Zimbabwe skipper for a duck.

At 6 for 1, Srinath moved one away from Campbell and even as the keeper and slips went up, Lankan umpire Asoka De Silva, standing in his 11th Test, turned down the appeal. Replays confirmed later that the ball had made no contact with the bat though the snickometer confirmed otherwise.

Zaheer Khan punctured the Zimbabwe innings further bowling one across to opener Gripper, who followed and nicked it to Rahul Dravid at first slip for 8.

Andy Flower found himself at the crease within an hour of the start of the day’s play and the early advent helped him discover his Bradmanesque form against India. The left-handed batsman has played twice at the Kotla and had a mind-boggling aggregate of 430 runs at an average of 215.

Flower dispatched Srinath to the fence twice, steering him through gully and following it up with a straight drive. He then drove Zaheer through the covers for his third boundary and threatened to take Zimbabwe to a huge score.

All-rounder Sanjay Bangar replaced Srinath and was guilty of bowling short, to be driven through the offside for two boundaries by Flower. 29 of the 37 runs scored in the morning session by southpaw were through the off-side despite a packed square and cover region.

The first hour of play got 35 runs before Anil Kumble bowled the 16th over of the innings.

Campbell, who played a patchy and unsure innings all along, pushed at a Zaheer delivery, which moved a little, and edged to Dravid at first slip for 16. The former skipper had scored 16 runs off 53 balls, with Zimbabwe at 65 for 3. The third-wicket partnership between Campbell and Flower notched 54 runs, off 13.3 overs, with a healthy run-rate of 4.

The Zimbabwe batting, until then, seemed more assertive than in the first Test at Nagpur, with the batsmen playing a more attacking brand of cricket. If the ball was pitched short, the batsmen rocked back and pulled; anything short of good length was driven to the ropes.

On a slow, dead pitch, the Indian pacers bowled with a lot of character, extracting bounce and getting movement to disconcert the batsmen. A sterling example of the disciplined bowling was that 95 per cent of 42 deliveries Srinath bowled in the morning session were good length balls.

In a clichéd move, Harbhajan Singh once again bowled the last over before lunch without damage as Zimbabwe went back to the pavilion at 74 for 3 off 26 overs.

The threat of a big innings from Flower seemed ominous, after he had collected 37 off 57 balls, with eight hits to the fence.

Post Lunch session

Flower conveyed his mood for the session, square driving the first ball after lunch from Zaheer Khan to the fence, and cruising into the forties.

Harbhajan bowled a brilliant spell though Lady Luck yet again deserted him. In one particular over, he almost had Ebrahim's bails dislodged, found the edge of Flower's bat -- but the red fell short of first slip, and had Ebrahim almost caught behind with a floater.

The disappointment seemed to have affected the bowler's temperament as he surrendered to his impatience, which was evident from his body language.

The 21-year old Ebrahim, meanwhile, supported Flower admirably with a serene innings, rotating the strike and punishing the bad balls. Zimbabwe wove another 50 run-partnership for the fourth-wicket between Ebrahim and Flower, coasting the Zimbabwe innings to safety.

Srinath and Zaheer, with superlative seam bowling, managed to reverse swing the ball appreciably and cramped the batsmen for runs, though they were bankrupt in the wickets department for the session.

Kumble, bowling the 50th over of the innings, had Flower collaring him for some special treatment. The left-handed batsman swept the leggie twice for boundaries and then squeezed the last ball of the over through the offside for four to zoom Zimbabwe to 150.

Despite 31 Test wickets at the Kotla, including the 'all-10 wicket haul' against Pakistan, Kumble seemed to have forgotten the form-book, with Flower, in particular, being very severe on him, taking 26 of the 21 balls he faced from the leggie.

Zimbabwe, having scored its third fifty off 93 balls, went into tea at 163 for 3 off 53 overs.

Post Tea session:

Flower butchered Kumble, bowling the second over after tea, plundering 13 runs off the over with a boundary and a sweep-slog for maximum.

Harbhajan Singh finally got Flower in the next over with a well-flighted one that pitched on middle and straightened; the ball got a thick inside edge on to pad and a diving S S Das at short leg latched on to it.

It was the first occasion Flower was dismissed in the nineties in 107 Test innings, and the Indian skipper wasn’t apologising.

From 65 for 3, the Flower-Ebrahim pair had redeemed the innings to 181 without further damage. Their 116-run partnership off 35 overs, at a healthy run-rate of 3.38 per over, had laid to rest the ghosts of the first Test, when the tourists had lost four wickets in the post-tea session after having reached a healthy 165 for 4 to capitulate to 194 for 7.

Ebrahim, unfazed by his senior partner’s departure, reached his fourth Test fifty from 104 balls in 156 minutes, displaying an unveiling calm beyond his years; exploring the right balance between aggression and caution.

Zimbabwe reached the 200-run mark in the 61st over. 126 of those runs were scored behind the wicket, which is indicative of the sweep shots the Zimbabweans used to good effect.

Harbhajan found the edge of Grant Flower’s bat early on in his innings but keeper Dasgupta failed to take the sharp chance, rising too early to the spinner on a track where the ball was keeping low.

Dasgupta had a predictably greasy day at the office with the gloves. In a lighter vein, though, the Bengal 'keeper was pretty consistent, he was consistently untidy to all the bowlers, giving away byes when not spilling chances. With 20 byes added to the tourists' total, the paucity of skills behind the wickets was highlighted.

After a 65-run partnership for the fifth-wicket, Ebrahim (75) called Grant Flower for a high-risk single. Kumble dashed across the pitch, flung himself at the ball and clattered the stumps with a direct throw to see the back of Grant Flower (30), who was inches short of his ground (246/5).

In Kumble’s next over, Heath Streak, fresh at the wicket, dragged the ball on to his stumps, trying to drive off the back foot, for nought. (246/6)

Zimbabwe looked in danger of conceding the ascendancy it seized during the first two sessions of the first day, but Dion Ebrahim, with a classic 82 off 183 balls, and Travis Friend, who has yet to be dismissed in this series, bolted the door for further dents to the innings. Zimbabwe ended the day at 260 for 6.

Zimbabwe 1st Innings: Detailed Scorecard

The complete coverage of the Zimbabwe tour of India