Zimbabwe take honours on day 2

Zimbabwe seemed to have won all three sessions of the second day of the second Test against India at the Ferozshah Kotla ground on Friday, with Sachin Tendulkar playing one of the most disappointing innings of his career, Rahul Dravid back in the hut, and the Indian team trailing them by 158 runs after ending the day on 171 for the loss of 4 wickets.

If India loses a wicket or two in the first hour of the third day, the series, which was expected to be a cakewalk for the hosts, might have another script in store.

Morning session:

Pace was the course that skipper Sourav Ganguly chose for the morning, claiming the new ball and letting his pacers at the Zimbabwean batsmen. And pace was also the course the Zimbabwean batsmen took, as they smashed 27 runs off the first five overs, with Travis Friend doing the bulk of the scoring and Dion Ebrahim slowly approaching his maiden Test hundred.

The Indian seam attack seemed to have frittered away the advantage with the new ball, bowling too short, until Srinath dismissed Ebrahim for 94, winning a doubtful LBW appeal. The ball seemed to have hit the batsman a tad high. (290/7).

Ebrahim, a product of the CFX cricket academy in Harare, was the second Zimbabwean batsman who reached the nineties and failed to convert it into three figures. A weak player against spin bowling, having struggled on the last 'A' tour of Sri Lanka, Ebrahim played the sweep shot against the spinners with élan and came in for special mention from teammate Andy Flower, with whom he shared a 116-run partnership, for his calm temperament and high quality technique.

The youngster from Bulawayo had shown immense cricketing intelligence while scoring 54 of his 94 runs between the wickets (31-singles, 7-twos, 3-threes) by rotating the strike and keeping the score moving.

Ganguly quickly tossed the ball to Kumble in the eighth over of the morning to polish off the tail and prevent the total from assuming dangerous proportions. The slow nature of the wicket made batting easy.The tourists reached 300 runs by the first hour of the morning, off 629 balls, at the rate of 2.89 per over.

Friend continued with the form he had shown in the Nagpur Test, flashing hard at the ball and driving the seamers with disdain. But Kumble struck a double blow in the 16th over of the morning, when wicketkeeper Taibu, at sea against the leggie's tweakers, succumbed plump in front for 13. (310/8).

Kumble followed it up with a yorker, which clattered Ray Price's stumps, as Zimbabwe lost their ninth wicket at 310.

Harbhajan Singh was introduced into the attack, with Friend yet again proving to be the thorn in the Indian side. Friend hoisted the first ball of the morning from the young offie into the stands for maximum. However, he chanced his arm once too often, sweeping Harbhajan deep at leg for Sachin Tendulkar to swallow a well-judged catch.

Zimbabwe were bowled out for 329, after having added a healthy 69 runs this morning from 21 overs.

Kumble topped the wickets list with three against his name though Harbhajan got more purchase from the wicket for his reward of two in the innings.

Indian innings:

Streak, in his first over, trapped Das at the crease, with the ball almost certainly in line with the stumps. The decision was, however, turned down by umpire De Silva. India went into lunch at 11/0.

Post Lunch session:

Dasgupta, concentration personified, got the session underway with a copybook cover drive for four. The keeper-opener, having summoned all his concentration powers, was keen on getting a big score and making up for his disastrous stint behind the wicket.

But Streak eventually got Zimbabwe the breakthrough, bowling a short one that S S Das touched on its way down the leg-side for Taibu to celebrate. India lost their first wicket at 24.

Ganguly, in a surprise move, moved himself up the order at number three, and rightly so. With the pitch not offering much bounce, it would be the ideal strip for the Indian skipper to get a solid knock and rediscover his form. Easier said than done though.

Price came on to bowl after drinks with India 42/1 in the 17th over of the Indian innings, and Ganguly, salivating at the sight of the left-arm spinner, despatched the red to the fence.

Four byes from the next delivery got India to fifty, off 100 balls. More mayhem followed as the next ball was driven through the covers for yet another four. Ganguly, having upped the momentum a gear, raced to 20 runs with four hits to the fence; his partner Dasgupta, bogged down for a while, followed suit and square cut Friend to the fence.

Friend then dismissed Dasgupta in freakish fashion. The opener took his eyes of the ball and was trapped plumb in front with a full toss. India were 68/2 in the 20th over.

Sachin Tendulkar, amidst cheers from the sparse crowds, walked out to the middle and splintered the bowling from the onset.

In a flagrant exhibition of his stroke-repertoire, the master batsman flicked the red from outside off-stump, depositing it to the mid-wicket fence with an exquisite roll of the wrists.

Ganguly came into his own in the 28th over of the innings, pulling Watambwa to the fence for four; in the same over Watambwa bowled one short and wide down leg-side for Ganguly to help it on its way to the fence.

India went into tea at 91/2 off 29 overs, still 238 runs in arrears.

Post Tea session:

Ganguly began the proceedings, punishing an over-pitched ball from Streak to the mid-wicket fence and cruising into the thirties -- the score-range the skipper has been dismissed 11 times in his career.

In symmetrical method, the Indian 100 came of 200 balls; the fifty earlier had come of exactly 100 balls.

Ray Price, in his tenth over, did everything right -- except getting the umpire's approval -- after having trapped Tendulkar in front with one that curled in the air and turned away from the batsman after pitching. It squared him up and struck his back foot. The ball would have crashed into the off-stump.

The close shave forced Tendulkar's array of strokes into a brief comatose; he scored a mere six runs off the 42 balls from the left-arm spinner then.

Streak and Price put the brakes on the Indian scoring rate, with a mere 13 runs coming in the first 11 overs after tea, with Tendulkar and Ganguly struggling to get the ball through the gaps.

With the runs drying up and pressure building, Carlisle replaced Streak and brought Friend on. A single long hop from the bowler had Ganguly pouncing on it dispatching it to the fence to let off some pressure.

In the next over Tendulkar scored his first run in 55 minutes since tea, with the score at 109/2 in the 43rd over.

Ganguly stole a quick single behind square off Price to reach his first half-century in eight Tests off 99 balls, with nine boundaries.

In the very next over Price yet again tossed one up; the ball pitched on middle and leg and kept travelling straight with Tendulkar’s leg-stump showing at the time of contact with the pad.

Ganguly finally got into his element, lofting Grant Flower over long on for maximum and forged into the sixties, looking good for his first Test hundred in over two years.

With 15 overs left to be bowled in the Indian innings before stumps, Tendulkar had scored a mere six suns from 69 balls while Ganguly had pulled 35 off 74. It was one of those rare occasions when the Tendulkar played second fiddle in the middle.

Tendulkar finally fell to Price, trapped in front (ironically) when the ball kept low and the umpire Asoka De Silva had no option but to show the finger. For Tendulkar, this would be an innings he wouldn’t want to remember. At one stage he had 20 off 25 balls and seemed to be in sublime touch, but the post-tea session saw him clueless against a mediocre but disciplined attack.

India’s troubles were compounded in the 60th over of the innings, when Ganguly, after playing the ball to shortish mid-on, sent back Dravid, who was beaten to the crease by Friend’s direct throw for one.

Virendra Sehwag walked into the middle and all fears of the wicket turning viciously were sent packing to the fence.

The drama on day two just refused to quell down with Ganguly (78) surviving a pretty clear LBW decision off Streak in the second last over of the day.

India eventually finished the day at 171/4 off 67 overs, at a dismal rate of 2.55 per over, still 158 runs in arrears.

A special mention for spinner Raymond Price, nephew of golfer Nick Price, whose journey into Test cricket has been a triumph of the spirit. A premature baby, suffering from meningitis early on in life, Ray lost his hearing and balance as a kid. An operation, which restored his hearing power, affected his balance yet again and he had to learn to walk again and develop his basic catching ability. His performance on this tour thus far is a reflection of the belief of an extraordinary determined human mind.

Earlier report
Day 1: Ebrahim, Andy Flower prop Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe 1st Innings: Detailed Scorecard

The complete coverage of the Zimbabwe tour of India