Zimbabwe fightback as India chase victory

The Indian team yet again proved how it could make a meal of a match by losing three early second innings wickets for 36 runs in the last hour of play on the fourth day of the second Test against Zimbabwe, in Delhi, while chasing a paltry total of 122 on a vicious wicket.

The Kotla strip predictably proved to be unplayable on day four, with 17 wickets (14 to the spinners) falling in a single day, dominated by spin.

After a dismal batting display in the first innings, Sachin Tendulkar will be looking to score and get India the 86 runs needed to wrap up the two-Test series 2-0.

Indian innings:

Ray Price snapped Sourav Ganguly. The Indian skipper tried to sweep him, got a top edge, and Trevor Gripper at short leg held on to the simplest of catches.

India were seven wickets down for 321 runs and all designs of grabbing a 150-run lead seemed distant for the hosts.

Ganguly's dismissal, after having batted for over seven hours on a difficult wicket, opened the Test yet again, with Zimbabwe wresting the initiative on day four of the Test.

Overnight batsman Anil Kumble punished an erring length from Travis Friend, dispatching him to the fence early on in the morning. Srinath, at the other end, was tied up in knots by the guile of Ray Price with the wicket turning viciously. The wily Price predictably had Srinath caught at silly point to claim his third wicket of the innings and India reeled at 331/8.

Harbhajan Singh walked in and swept the first ball from Price to the fence. In his typical unorthodox style, the young Sikh swept Price wildly to the mid-wicket fence yet again in the same over to stretch the lead.

India lost its ninth wicket for 340, when Streak had Harbhajan LBW for nine. India reached 350 (771 balls) with new man, number 11, Zaheer Khan swinging wildly at Streak to get a boundary behind square.

Streak then clanked Zaheer's stumps to bowl India out for 354. India had a thin lead of 25 runs.

Streak, the former Zimbabwe skipper, finished with figures of four for 92 runs on a strip offering no assistance to the seamers as was evident from the score sheet that was dominated by the tweakers.

Zimbabwe innings

Stuart Carlisle drove Srinath on either side of the wicket in one over and the introduction of the spinners seemed imminent.

Harbhajan Singh was introduced in the sixth over and Zimbabwe batsmen made their intentions clear; Trevor Gripper danced down the track and lofted him over mid-on for four.

But in his second over, Harbhajan had Gripper dismissed by an unsavory decision. Gripper danced down the wicket, the ball missed the bat, thumped the pad on its way to Rahul Dravid at first slip who took the ball on the bounce. Umpire Asoka De Silva of Sri Lanka raised the finger and added to his list of erring decisions for the game, though Dravid too failed to accept that the catch was not clean.

Harbhajan Singh, having tasted blood, came around the wicket and found the edge of left-handed Alistair Campbell to Rahul Dravid, at first slip, who took his second catch of the innings. The ball, after having pitched on middle, held its line and surprised Campbell with the exaggerated bounce. (31/2)

Off the fifth ball of the same over, Harbhajan pitched a straight one, with the angle of the delivery making the difference. Flower got an inside edge, which SS Das at short leg pocketed with ease. (31/3)

Zimbabwe went into lunch at 42/3 and the game had tilted India's way in the extended morning session.

Post lunch session:

The post-lunch period seemed to be a tad drab after the exciting morning session, which saw seven wickets tumble. Zimbabwe reached 50 in the 23rd over with the lead a mere 25 runs and seven second innings wickets standing.

After a brief period post-lunch, when the Zimbabweans seemed to be settling in, Ganguly swapped Harbhajan Singh to the other end, getting Zaheer Khan to bowl an over of spin.

Skipper Carlisle (37) miscued one back to the bowler, who, diving to his left, caught the ball, which lobbed in the air after the bowler fell to the ground, and yet nested in between the arm and the chest. Harbhajan claimed the catch, which was then referred to the third umpire, who, after a million replays, flashed the red light. The statistical importance of the dismissal being that it was the first time Harbhajan had taken a 'caught and bowled' in Tests.

Kumble, after a lot of missed chances, got Ebrahim (22) plumb in front with a straight fastish flipper while not offering a shot. (95/5 of 42 overs)

Ebrahim had until then played with the perfect technique and temperament required against spinners of the quality of Harbhajan and Kumble on a wicket assisting spin.

The leggie struck again, trapping Heath Streak LBW to leave Zimbabwe stranded at 113/6. Wickets tumbled as Harbhajan got through the defense of Travis Friend off an inside edge, castling him, to bag his seventh five-wicket haul in Tests. (114/7)

Taibu, after playing a brief stubborn innings, was clueless about one that got high on the bat for Bangar at second slip to swallow an easy catch. (129/8)

Harbhajan got his sixth wicket when Price offered a bat-pad to SS Das at forward short leg for 3. (142/9)

At 146-9, Flower flicked Kumble uppishly to mid-wicket and Sehwag goofed the catch. He landed on his shoulder and injured it seriously. He had to be carried off the field on a stretcher and it seemed unlikely that he would have any part to play in the rest of the Test.

Grant Flower, waging a lone battle, slog-swept Kumble one short of his half-century to be caught at deep mid-wicket by Harbhajan Singh.

Kumble and Harbhajan claimed all ten second innings wickets to wrap up the Zimbabwean innings.

Zimbabwe, dismissed for 146, set India 122 runs to win the Test and series 2-0 with the entire fifth day's play left.

Indian innings:

India received an early setback when keeper-opener Deep Dasgupta was run-out in the second over of the innings with a brilliant piece of athleticism from his opposite number, Tatenda Taibu.

Dasgupta played the ball off his pads to long leg and set off for a tight two, when Streak flung the ball back to the keeper high in the air. The short Taibu timed his leap to perfection and deflected it onto the stumps with Dasgupta's bat on the line. (3/1)

Deep Dasgupta had a particularly pathetic Test match, grassing more than half a dozen chances, besides some sloppy collecting. And just when his meal was turning sour, he was served some more with his batting form also deteriorating.

Friend, yet again in the series, bowled a beamer, this time to skipper Sourav Ganguly and was warned by the umpire De Silva besides being no-balled. The bowler has surprisingly bowled more than five beamers in the two Test series, raising doubts about his intent. When was the last time an international bowler had the ball slip out of his hands on so many occasions in a single series?

The born-again Ganguly pulled the seamers without fear and seemed to be in a hurry to finish the game, knowing well how tricky small targets can get.

Ray Price summoned all the tricks in his bag to get Ganguly back in the hut, tossing the ball up, giving it that extra tweak, but failed. Carlisle, realising that if Zimbabwe had any chance in the game it was with spin, tossed the ball to Grant Flower. (36/2)

And almost immediately Grant Flower had Ganguly plumb in front with four overs to go for the end of the day's play. The Indian innings seemed to be in disarray when nightwatchman Anil Kumble was given marching orders off the very next ball, caught at short leg when the ball seemed to be nowhere close to the bat. (36/3)

Sachin Tendulkar walked in to face the hat-trick ball and left it alone on its way to the keeper, averting further damage to the Indian innings.

With 86 runs to get on the fifth and final day on a crumbling track, Tendulkar and SS Das have their task cut out for them.

Earlier report
Day 1: Ebrahim, Andy Flower prop Zimbabwe
Day 2: Zimbabwe take honours
Day 3: Ganguly, Sehwag on song

Detailed Scorecard

The complete coverage of the Zimbabwe tour of India