Marillier snatches victory
from India

Eight years ago in Zimbabwe, a young boy of 16 met with a horrific car accident, which broke both his femurs. He had a compound fracture of the right leg and the bone in his left leg was crushed just above the knee. He was in a wheelchair for three months and missed a year's cricket; everyone thought he might never play again.

Today, the same boy -- Douglas Marillier, at number ten, played one of the most astonishing innings in the annals of one-day cricket to win Zimbabwe the first one-day international against India, in the five-match series, by one wicket, at the Mayur stadium in Faridabad.

A breathtaking 56 off 24 balls by Marillier, who was famous in his country for the unorthodox scoop shot named the 'Marillier' - a shot one plays by moving across the stumps and scooping a full-length ball from a fast bowler to the fine-leg boundary, coasted Zimbabwe to the improbable win.

Indian innings:

"We are without some of our top players, but I hope the youngsters in the side make the most of their chances," said skipper Sourav Ganguly, on the eve of the one-day series against Zimbabwe.

India took the field without its three top performers -- Sachin Tendulkar, Javagal Srinath (rested) and Virendra Sehwag (injured). They were rejuvenated with the return of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, who replaced Hemang Badani and Sachin Tendulkar respectively.

Zimbabwe had all-rounder Douglas Marillier and medium-pacer Gary Brent.

Curator Sarkar Talwar had prepared, as he said, a sporting wicket with 550-plus runs in it. The hard strip, with a sheath of grass on it, promised true bounce.

"I think any team will be relieved to know that these two batsmen are not playing," said Carlisle. "Their absence will certainly enhance our chances."

Ganguly, having rediscovered his form, also found favour with the coin and won the toss. He and Dinesh Mongia walked out to make first use of the hard wicket. Mongia was a surprising but good choice up the order. The left-handed Punjabi, with his deft touch and strong affinity for the square area, seemed to be the ideal foil for Ganguly. He flicked Travis Friend past midwicket in the second over of the day, imparting the initial thrust to the innings.

Ganguly, having weeded out the flaws in his batting technique, hoicked both the opening bowlers, Friend and Streak, for leg side boundaries.

India lost the first wicket with Mongia (25) playing away from his body at a Heath Streak delivery that found the inside edge and landed into the hands of 'keeper Tatenda Taibu. (46/1)

VVS Laxman, promoted to number three, literally got into the slot with the same ease with which he drove Streak through the covers for four. In the same over he picked one, a fraction short of ideal length, over the in-field to the mid-wicket fence, thus dusting the poor form off his veritable class.

He effortlessly severed the field, finding the fence at will, besides working the ball through the gaps for singles.

Ganguly, looking to make the most of the conditions, kept the tempo in top gear, finding the fence and clearing it at times with a touch of arrogance despite the fielders stationed at long-on and long-off. His eagerness to rotate the strike by darting for singles was another positive aspect.

At 123/1 in the twenty-third over, off-spinner Marillier bowled one down leg-side, Ganguly missed the ball, lost his balance a bit, and was brilliantly stumped by Taibu.

Having scored 57 runs, Ganguly's only blotch was when Marillier dropped a caught-and-bowled chance after wily skipper Carlisle choked the batsman's easy pickings through the off-side with a packed field.

The second wicket Ganguly-Laxman partnership had raised 77 runs in 13 overs at almost six an over.

After failing in both innings of the Delhi Test, Rahul Dravid walked into the middle looking to attack and keep the scoreboard moving. Laxman, unfazed at the other end, showed an exceptional knack of picking the singles, bringing a smile to coach John Wright's face.

After 30 overs, India at 155/2 seemed to have set the perfect premise for a huge score with eight wickets in hand.

Dravid slashed hard at a delivery short and wide from Travis Friend for four behind square with the scoring pace dawdling a bit. Looking to accelerate the scoring, he, however, tried to sweep Grant Flower and was trapped in front for 23. India lost its third wicket in the 34th over after a 48 run-partnership of 66 deliveries. (171/3)

In the 40th over of the innings, Kaif dropped the ball towards point and seemed disinterested in a run with Laxman halfway down the pitch. Laxman returned to the pavilion with an innings that highlighted the importance of the singles in one-dayers. In his 99-ball essay at the crease, he had 47 singles and five boundaries for a top-score of 75 runs. (193/4)

A mere 38 runs came in the crucial 30-40 over period without a single boundary, owing to a brilliant spell of left-arm spin bowling from Grant Flower. Bowling his quota of ten overs on the trot, Flower dried up the flow of runs with an impeccable length always bowling to his field. His ten overs, coincidentally, went for a mere 38 runs.

All-rounder Sanjay Bangar was dismissed for a duck, playing uppishly at a delivery of fullish length looking to clear mid-on. Friend timed his jump with immaculate judgement and took an astonishing catch, with India at 195/5 in the 41st over.

In over number 43, Kaif finally swung Friend to the on-side boundary, the first since the 30th over.

Keeper Ajay Ratra, playing on his home ground, hit a full toss to the mid-wicket fielder and failed to collect the single, which was on despite the misfield. India lost its sixth wicket in the 44th over and the innings seemed to be meandering with the fall of quick wickets.

Ajit Agarkar joined Mohammed Kaif at the crease with India looking to stem the fall of wickets and score as many as possible. Agarkar though had other ideas as he tore into the Zimbabwean attack, reminding them of the fastest Indian fifty, which he scored when they were on their last tour here.

Smashing 14 runs off the 48th over bowled by Gary Brent, the lanky Agarkar, summoning his stockpile of shots, plundered 40 runs off 19 balls -- with six fours and a six -- to take India to a commanding score of 274/6.

The Indian innings had 123 singles against 141 dot balls. It was a slight improvement from their last performance in Mumbai against England, when they had only managed 81 singles to 179 dot balls.

Zimbabwe innings:

Ganguly had earlier said that Zaheer Khan would be one of the best left-arm bowlers in the world if he could bring the ball back into the right-handed batsman. Khan lost no time in proving his skipper wrong and had opener Craig Wishart's off-stump cartwheeling in the very first over, off a delivery that cut in to the right-hander.

In a surprise move, Zimbabwe sent in bowler Travis Friend at number three to propel the innings. Chasing 274 runs, the shuffle seemed sensible. The experiment though failed to metamorphose into a master stroke; Khan struck again when Friend found an inside edge and dislodged the bails. (21/2)

The opening bowling though was a contrast. Zaheer, at one end, was bottling the batsmen with his pace and movement, only for Agarkar to release the pressure at the other end with some wayward bowling. Zaheer gave 11 runs off his six overs, claiming two wickets, while Agarkar gave 35 off his six.

Ganguly rang in a double bowling change, with Sanjay Bangar and Harbhajan Singh inside the 15 overs. The duel between Harbhajan and Andy Flower off his first over was the highlight of the Zimbabwean innings. The young Sardar having beaten Flower of the first four balls, teased him with eye contact and a few unsavoury words. The left-hander, displaying his class, swept Harbhajan over mid-wicket for a six and followed it up with a slog-sweep for four to the mid-wicket fence.

The plan implemented by the Zimbabwean batters was to disallow Harbhajan to settle down and keep the strike rotating with singles. 31 runs came off the six overs he bowled.

Off the last ball of the 25th over, a direct throw from Harbhajan from the deep almost had Campbell short of his crease.

Andy Flower and Campbell went about the job in clinical fashion, keeping the required rate around six and rotating the strike.

Zimbabwe required 158 runs of the remaining 25 overs with eight wickets in hand for the late onslaught.

Flower (72) then reached at a wide Kumble delivery dragging it on to his stumps and the match seemed to be tilting towards India.

The third wicket partnership of Campbell-Andy Flower put together 111 runs in just 22 overs.

The former skipper Campbell kept his team in the hunt with well-judged singles reaching his 50 off 75 balls.

Khan, brought on in the 37th over, ended the 53-run fourth wicket stand, finding the edge of Carlisle's bat, with one that moved away after pitching, for keeper Ratra to take a superb catch diving full stretch to his right. (186/4)

Khan damaged Zimbabwe further in the very next over, trapping danger man Alistair Campbell in front for 84. Zimbabwe required a further 81 runs in 12 overs.

Grant Flower, realising the mounting ask, charged Harbhajan, was unable to connect, and gave a simple catch back to the bowler, leaving Zimbabwe staring down the barrel at 198/6.

Zimbabwe required 76 runs off the final 10 overs with four wickets standing.

Harbhajan knocked the stuffing out of the Zimbabweans when he had Heath Streak top edging the ball to Ganguly at short cover. (200/7).

Sanjay Bangar then had his slice of the Zimbabwean pie when Dion Ebrahim skied him in the deep for skipper Ganguly to swallow an easy catch. (210/8)

Off-spinner Douglas Marillier then walked out to bat with Tatenda Taibu with an Indian win almost certain.

Zimbabwe required 58 runs off five overs and only two wickets in hand and a fired up Khan all set to claim his first 'five-for' in ODIs.

Playing with amazing alacrity, Marillier cover drove the first ball of the 47th over from Zaheer Khan for four, then yanked a six over square-leg and followed it up by moving across to the off-side and scooping the ball to the leg side for another boundary.

An over and 20 runs later, Zimbabwe had stomped back into the match. 38 had come off just 15 balls for Marillier, who seemed to display the most audacious shot making in recent times.

Bangar then bowled a tidy 48th over, giving only five runs and taking the wicket of Taibu, edging one to Ratra wide outside off stump.

The replays though indicated that the bat had clearly missed the ball.

Khan was given yet another over by skipper Ganguly with Zimbabwe requiring 23 runs of the final 12 balls. Marillier, who had been practising the scoop shot over the keeper's head in the nets, smelt the adrenaline and went for the same shot, grabbing another couple of boundaries. 33 runs had been taken of the two overs bowled by Khan and Zimbabwe required 10 runs in the final over with one wicket left.

Marillier had successfully played the shot twice off Glenn McGrath in the crucial final over against Australia at Perth in 2001 and brought his team close to victory then but had failed to do so by a single run.

Driving Kumble, bowling the final over, to the cover fence, Marillier top-edged an attempted sweep to the third man fence off a no-ball to get Zimbabwe home by one wicket. They registered one of the greatest comebacks in limited-overs internationals.

India didn't do anything wrong today; one man just snatched victory from them.

Full scorecard

Statistical highlights