Zimbabwe whip India at Kochi

Faisal Shariff

"The Indian team is the most entertaining team in the world but also the most inconsistent," remarked coach John Wright when asked for an assessment.

The manner in which India succumbed to the wily Zimbabweans, losing the third one-day international, at the Nehru stadium in Kochi, by six wickets, aptly justified the statement of the Indian coach.

After crushing the tourists three days ago at Mohali, the abject surrender defined the character of the Indian team. Batting first, India could manage only 191 runs, losing their top four batsmen within the first 15 overs for 50 runs.

Wright had earlier stated that the tendency of the team to relax after a good win was a huge drawback; and rightly so!

1-2 down in the five-match series, India seems set to make heavy weather of what should have been an easy series triumph.

Indian innings:

The script for the third one-dayer seemed obvious. A flat, hard wicket and a history of 300-plus scores in the two one-dayers played at the venue previously predicted yet another run feast. The Indian eleven lost Anil Kumble to a shoulder strain, giving offie Sharandeep Singh his first outing for the series.

Zimbabwe were forced to play without top batsman Andy Flower, out to a strained hip, and medium-pacer Gary Brent, who had taken ill. Surprisingly, the tourists replaced Andy Flower with medium pacer Douglas Hondo instead of another batsman, and Mpumulelu ‘Pommie’ Mbangwa, another medium-pacer, came in for Brent.

Riding his luck with the toss, Ganguly elected to bat first, hoping to pile the runs. Rookie pacer Hondo trapped southpaw Dinesh Mongia in front in the fourth over of the innings; though the decision seemed a touch suspect, with the ball having pitched outside leg-stump. (10/1)

V V S Laxman arrived at the crease earlier than he expected and found the fence for India in the seventh over, caressing the ball majestically through covers. Skipper Ganguly, vulnerable to the knee injury he sustained in Faridabad, hobbled between the wickets and clearly lacked the fluency to score quickly in the opening overs.

Laxman, meanwhile, was motoring on at the other end; he scored 11 runs off an over from Hondo, who was bowling a disciplined line. He ripped a delivery, fullish in length, over the cover fielder Alistair Campbell, who just managed to get his fingers to the ball before it reached the fence; the next one was the patent flick through the mid-wicket fence for another four. It seemed that the pitch, after offering some early movement to the seamers, had gone back to sleep.

Laxman then flashed at Pommie Mbangwa wide outside the off-stump, nicking to 'keeper Taibu and the Indian innings appeared to have been woken up to the reality of a stiff battle.

The dismissal brought Rahul Dravid and Ganguly, half-centurions in the last one-dayer in Mohali, together to repair the innings.

Hondo finally ended Ganguly’s agony in the middle, when the skipper stepped out to have a swing. He missed the line of the ball and found his wickets rearranged.

It was baffling to watch Ganguly play in the game with an injured knee that hampered his strokeplay, not to mention the millstone in the field that he resembled.

The Indian innings, at 49/3 in the 12th over, was derailed, with no impetus provided by the openers.

India lost its fourth wicket when Dravid, trying to cut Mbangwa, found the red dart in the hands of Craig Wishart at widish first, off his wrong side.

After starts of 83 for 1 in Faridabad and 109 for 1 in Mohali, the Indian innings, at the end of 15 overs, was struggling at 54 for 4, with 66 of the 90 balls not being scored off.

Mohammed Kaif pulled Mbangwa over the mid-wicket fence for six and India then saw a trace of a substantial partnership at 90 for 4. Off the first ball of the 26th over, Kaif swung Marillier to mid-wicket for Heath Streak, covering a lot of ground, to grass the skier.

Bangar, having taken his own sweet time to get off the mark, settled down, playing a silken late glance down to the third man fence for four in the same over.

India reached the 100 run-mark in the 26th over and the Kaif-Bangar partnership seemed to be coasting India to safety. But in the 34th over, Bangar (36), in a sudden rush of blood, swung a full toss from outside off-stump down the throat of deep mid-wicket fielder Hondo. Now, even a target of 200 seemed to look distant with India struggling at 137 for 5.

By rotating the strike and running well between the wickets, Bangar and Kaif put together an 86-run partnership in 22 overs, at a competitive rate of 4.06 per over.

Kaif stroked through the covers for a couple and reached his maiden half-century in international cricket. The innings lacked any flamboyance, but it was more than useful considering the plight of the team when he walked in at 49 for 3.

Douglas Marillier then converted a half chance at mid-on, brilliantly catching the ball inches from the ground when keeper Ratra danced down the wicket, driving left-arm spinner Grant Flower. He was dismissed for three. (147/6)

Ajit Agarkar departed two overs and eight runs later, pushing at a delivery from Grant Flower that stopped on him. Heath Streak, at cover, gobbled the easy offering and India were heading for a paltry total. (155/7)

Half-centurion Kaif then played uppishly and offered a simple catch at midwicket to Wishart, off the bowling of Streak, thus botching up a chance to translate a useful innings to a match-winning one. (157/8)

With eight wickets down and six overs yet to be bowled, Sarandeep Singh, playing his second ODI, attempted a gawky slog off Marillier to cover, only to be caught by skipper Carlisle for 3.

Harbhajan Singh then put his long handle to good use, smacking the Zimbabwe bowlers all over the park, including a wily reverse sweep and a slog-sweep.

The Indian innings finally folded up for 191, when Zaheer Khan slogged a Hondo full toss to long-on for Marillier to take his second catch of the innings.

The Indian innings was in one word ‘complacent’. With the top-order batsmen failing to get the innings off to a good start, the middle-order, barring Kaif, submitted rather meekly to the second-string Zimbabwean bowling attack.

Laxman and Ganguly were guilty of gifting their wickets away, knowing well enough that the team lacked the comfort of Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag. There were as many as 182 dot balls in the innings, with a mere 83 singles, which seemed puny due to the lack of boundaries (13).

The wicket, for its part, was two-paced, with the odd ball keeping low and raising doubts in the minds of the batsmen.

Doug Hondo, playing his third ODI, finished with four wickets for 37 runs -- the best by a Zimbabwean bowler in India -- and emphasized the importance of disciplined line and length in one-dayers.

Zimbabwe innings:

Dion Ebrahim, trying to play the ball down to third man, dragged Ajit Agarkar onto his stumps and Zimbabwe lost their first wicket with the score reading 13, in the sixth over.

At 39 for 1, Zaheer Khan bowled one just short of good length outside leg; Travis Friend, trying to make room for himself, moved to the leg side, but the low bounce of the delivery snipped the pad and clattered his stumps.

Alistair Campbell and Grant Flower then got together and wove a steady partnership, meticulously studying the options and taking calculated risks.

Campbell was brutal on Ajit Agarkar, scoring easily every time the Mumbaikar erred in line, while Grant Flower, at the other end, dropped anchor, defending and looking to rotate the strike.

Harbhajan Singh and Sanjay Bangar were the pick of the bowlers in the middle overs when the Campbell-Grant Flower partnership was taking the match away from India, but were unlucky not to have claimed any wickets.

Alistair Campbell, in the middle of a purple patch, reached his third consecutive half-century of the series, driving Harbhajan Singh through the covers for a couple. His effort came off 87 deliveries with 17 singles and five fours.

Zimbabwe at 116 for 2 in the 27th over were racing to a win and a lead of 2-1 in the five-match series.

Sarandeep Singh was pretty expensive, giving away 25 runs off his three overs. Flower swept him for fours in consecutive overs while Campbell dispatched him to the cover boundary, damaging his figures initially.

The young Sardar though got the breakthrough, giving India a wafer-thin chance of clawing back into the game when he drew Campbell out by giving the ball a lot of air and having him stumped by Ratra for 71 off 119 balls. (144/3)

The 105-run partnership for the third wicket had sealed a Zimbabwean win.

Skipper Ganguly replaced Sarandeep Singh, who was handled easily by the Zimbabwe batsmen, with Agarkar, who had Grant Flower caught behind one short of a well-deserved half century. Getting prodigious reverse swing with the old cherry, Agarkar got one to cut back in and kiss the bat of Flower, who was looking to play the ball down to third man, on its way to the keeper Ratra.

India’s fielding was the lowest of the series so far, with mis-fields and a couple of overthrows, which help the Zimbabwean cause. The bowlers, in particular, were guilty of giving away 21 extras, of which 11 were no-balls.

Skipper Carlisle and Craig Wishart then played sensibly and glided past the Indian total for an emphatic six-wicket win. Craig Wishart posted part-time spinner Dinesh Mongia over midwicket for maximum.

Scoreboard