India thump Zimbabwe at Mohali

India avenged its surprise defeat in Faridabad with a 64-run rousing win over Zimbabwe within 44 overs in the second ODI at Mohali.

Chasing a mammoth 320 to win, the tourists started their innings with a rollicking stand between Alistair Campbell and Travis Friend who were involved in a 134-run partnership for the second wicket - a record for Zimbabwe against India- before the pressure of chasing a total of 300 plus took its toll on them.

Man-of-the-match Sourav Ganguly claimed after the game that he knew all along that with the runs they scored today, victory was a regulation. Both teams did not make any changes in their line up though Indian coach John Wright did drop some hints to that effect.

Indian innings:

The Mohali wicket, not as hard as usual, with a sprinkling of grass on it, was still a batting beauty despite overnight rain. Skipper Sourav Ganguly, winning his second consecutive toss, decided to take first strike. That was because of the fact that sides batting first here have had a 71 per cent success rate.

India started with a bang reaching fifty in the seventh over after Dinesh Mongia survived a LBW appeal from Heath Streak off the first ball of the match.

Mongia slapped one through the square region for a boundary to open his account and with it the floodgates. He drove Streak through cover with panache and followed it up with an exquisite square drive.

Ganguly began with a patent square cut and then hooked Friend when he pitched one short.

Zimbabwe's problems were compounded by indisciplined bowling, by Friend in particular. He bowled five wides in the 11th over handing the advantage to the Indians.

Twenty-eight runs came off over numbers six and seven forcing skipper Stuart Carlisle to advance his bowling change. Gary Brent bowled the eighth over and slowed things down.

Significantly, the run-orgy was achieved without the services of Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag.

India got to the hundred-run mark in style with Ganguly mailing medium pacer Gary Brent over the long-off fence.

However, Dinesh Mongia (45 off 52 balls) tried the lofted drive once too often and was caught at mid-off by Friend off the bowling of Marillier. (108/1)

With a temperament beyond his years, the only worrying factor in Mongia's batting is the number of dot balls, which totaled 35 in today's innings.

Ganguly then put on 79 runs with V V S Laxman in 14 overs at a rate of 5.5 runs per over, and set the Indian innings soaring.

Ganguly completed his fourth consecutive fifty in ODIs off a mere 51 balls [15 singles and 27 dots]. His knock of 86 runs came to an end when he was caught outside the crease by a direct throw from the deep by Heath Streak.

Patting the ball down to third man, Ganguly hesitated for a few crucial jiffies before setting off for the run, which made all the difference as he was well short of the crease while returning for a double.

Despite his niggling injury, Ganguly played an astute knock, combining judicious batting with calculated risks. His 86 comprised 25 singles.

Fears of a slowdown in the scoring rate were dispelled when Rahul Dravid, coming in at the fall of Ganguly's wicket, and Laxman kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and finding the fence with regularity.

The Laxman-Dravid partnership of 55 runs off 61 balls held the innings together in the middle overs without slowing the run rate.

India has often lost tempo in this stage and with it the plot to building mammoth totals during the crucial 30-40 over period.

In the Faridabad one-dayer, a mere 38 runs came in the same period without a single boundary.

Laxman got to his second successive fifty of the current one-day series with a flick off Travis Friend in the 38th over.

But he was dismissed two overs later top-edging Friend to point where Ebrahim took a simple catch in difficult light. Forty-six of the 58 runs that Laxman scored were off singles and twos, underlining yet again the dot-ball theory coach Wright has been propagating in the dressing room.

Craig Wishart then dropped a pull by Dravid at midwicket off the bowling of Marillier. Sensing luck favouring him, the orthodox Dravid gathered his one-day experience and played a cute reverse-sweep to the third man fence.

Kaif followed Laxman to the dressing room soon after. He was ready to play the reverse-sweep when Grant Flower stopped in his delivery stride and castled him when Kaif tried to play a sweep and missed the line of the ball. He scored 15.

Dravid scored a fifty (his 36th in ODIs) off 48 balls with more than fifty per cent the runs coming from singles and twos. He will be proud of it as will be coach Wright.

Agarkar, promoted ahead of Sanjay Bangar, failed to repeat his Faridabad cameo and holed out to Marillier in the deep off Brent. Bangar bagged his second consecutive duck of the series offering a simple catch to Wishart at mid-wicket.

Harbhajan struck some lusty blows late in the innings before his home crowd and India raced away to 319 off their fifty overs.

India scored 73 runs in the final ten overs for the loss of three wickets, which augured well for the side after the upset defeat in Faridabad

Zimbabwe innings:

Already facing the daunting task chasing a 300-plus total under lights, Zimbabwe were also docked an over for their slow innings rate.

Alistar Campbell had a new opening partner in Dion Ebrahim instead of Craig Wishart. But the move back-fired when Agarkar struck in his very first over. Ebrahim nicked him straight to V V S Laxman at second slip.

Agarkar almost had new man Friend when a snorter of a delivery took the gloves and flew over Laxman.

In his third over, Agarkar dropped Friend off his own bowling and was then collared for two fours on either side of the wicket.

Travis Friend thumped a short one from Ajit Agarkar to the point boundary; cracked Zaheer to the long-off fence and then hit two consecutive aerial straight drives of the same bowler.

On a wicket that was playing true, the Zimbabweans reply, spearheaded by promoted batsman Friend, was frenetic and threatening.

The fifteenth over bowled by Bangar saw Ganguly drop an uppish on-drive; possibly due to the lights. A lethargic Ganguly then failed to arrest an off-drive from Friend's blade.

Dancing down the wicket, Friend then posted Kumble over long off taking the team score to 100 and also registering his half-century.

Harbhajan finally got India the crucial breakthrough drawing Friend out of the crease for Ratra to whip the bails off and effect a clean stumping. Zimbabwe at 138/2 in 22 overs were still in the driver's seat with the Flower brothers to follow.

But Friend, who had a dreadful spell with the ball in the afternoon, had repaid the faith the Zimbabwean think-tank placed in him when they sent him in again at the fall of the first wicket.

His 64 runs off 60 deliveries had 32 runs in the 'V' area - underlining the value of straight clean hitting.

Harbhajan bailed India out yet again when he had Alistair Campbell trapped in front in his second over.

Zimbabwe had lost two key wickets in the space of five runs. From 138/1, the tourists slipped to 143/3 slowing the thrilling run-chase.

At 148/3 after 25 overs, Zimbabwe were spot on with the Flower brothers at the crease though Andy was having trouble with an injury to his leg.

Harbhajan, who was on a roll, ran out Grant Flower when his brother Andy tapped one to the on-side and set off for a run before changing his mind. Keeper Ajay Ratra got to the ball and threw it to Harbhajan at the non-striker's end with Grant Flower well short of his crease. [166/4]

Andy Flower, playing with a runner, was the next to go in the 34th over when part-time spinner Dinesh Mongia, bowling his harmless tweakers, had the left-hander chopping the ball onto his stumps. [204/5]

Ajit Agarkar then dismissed skipper Stuart Carlisle in the first over of his second spell for 25. At this point, Zimbabwe lost the momentum of the chase. [212/6]

Despite the flurry of wickets and the mounting asking rate, the threat of Doug Marillier rankled the Indians. But it was ephemeral as he perished attempting a grand heave off Mongia, looking to clear mid-wicket and getting a top-edge. Keeper Ratra took a well-judged running catch chasing the ball to square-leg. The hero of Faridabad scored a mere two runs. [219/7]

The rookie spinner claimed his third wicket clattering Wishart's stumps to leave Zimbabwe tottering at 229/8.

Kumble and Harbhajan then shared the last two wickets between them as the Zimbabwe innings folded for 255 with five overs remaining.

Harbhajan finished with three wickets, including the all-important ones of Friend and Campbell in quick succession. Dinesh Mongia added to India's bowling options in limited overs by claiming three wickets that slowed down the Zimbabwean innings.

India walked away with quite a few positives from the game. More than anything, it realised its potential by playing to a plan - taking the singles, rotating the strike, fielding well, taking the catches and, most important, realising that a collective effort is required to be on the winning side.

With two catches, a stumping and a run-out besides keeping the team on its toes, Ajay Ratra is another positive. It defies logic as to why the selectors think that this youngster is not yet ready for Test cricket.

With the series now level at one match each, India should look to start their preparations for the world cup by cleaning up the tourists 4-1 keeping in mind that their opponents are no pushovers in the shorter version of the game.

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