Yuvraj, Kaif heroics at Hyderabad

"Every dog has his day," declared Yuvraj Singh, after he was dropped from the Indian squad for the England series earlier this year.

"I played against my strength. When I was dropped, I deserved to be dropped. When I deserve to be picked, I will be; I know that," he added.

After a whirlwind 60-ball knock of 80 runs, which led India to a five-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the fourth one-dayer, under the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium lights in Hyderabad, the strapping lad from Chandigarh announced his second coming.

The victory, which saw India level the series 2-2, was doubly sweet. The first reason for celebration was because the most consistent chokers in world cricket won under pressure; and victory was realised by the younger lot of players, a promising sign indeed with less than a year to go for the World Cup in South Africa.

The manner in which junior stars Kaif and Yuvraj fashioned the famous win was a case study in chasing totals in ODIs.

The coin finally fell in Zimbabwe skipper Stuart Carlisle’s favour and he chose to set India a target on a two-paced wicket, which would help the seamers and take spin as the day progressed.

India included left-arm spinner Murali Kartik and left-handed Yuvraj Singh, both star performers in the domestic season, in place of Sharandeep Singh and Sanjay Bangar.

Zimbabwe rested Craig Wishart for Andy Flower, who recovered from his hip strain.

The Indian team was in a 'do-or-die' situation, down 1-2 in the five-match series after their abject surrender in the Kochi one-dayer.

India have lost just a lone one-day series at home in the past 15 years -- to Australia last year.

Indian innings:

Dinesh Mongia flicked three consecutive boundaries to the square leg fence off Hondo’s second over to launch the Indian run-chase in style.

Man-of-the-match at Kochi, Hondo repeatedly erred in line and was collared by the Indian openers. In the sixth over, Ganguly, having flicked Hondo down to the fine leg fence, drove uppishly to cover fielder Grant Flower. [30 for 1]

Off the last ball of the 11th over, Mongia [30] threw away yet another chance to convert a good start, hanging his bat out to offer Alistair Campbell, at first slip, a sharp chance. [50 for 2]

VVS Laxman [13] edged Streak down leg-side six runs later and walked. [56 for 3].

Mohammed Kaif, meanwhile, continued his good form, pulling Friend past midwicket for four, and then dispatching Douglas Marillier on the full to the mid-wicket fence yet again. The youngster from Kanpur then wove a 76-run partnership with Rahul Dravid for the fourth wicket.

Grant Flower then struck, when Dravid, playing for the spin, dragged the ball onto the stumps. [132 for 4]

Riding on the wave of a dazzling double ton in the Duleep Trophy for Punjab, Yuvraj celebrated his comeback into the Indian squad with a wristy cover drive of Doug Marillier. 95 runs were required off the final 15 overs, with six wickets standing.

Kaif got to his second successive half-century off 75 balls, as India crossed 150 in the 36th over off 216 balls, with aggressive running between the wickets, assessing the risks and finding the fence regularly.

Mohammed Kaif, motivated after coach John Wright specifically criticised his failure to capitalise on his fifty in the Kochi one-dayer, anchored the innings with the maturity of an old hand.

The skipper of the under-19 cricket team, which won the World Cup two years ago, ran like a hare in between the wickets after shining in the field all afternoon with his unbelievable diving stops.

Requiring 69 runs to win, off the last ten overs, Yuvraj played a stunning inside-out drive through the covers in the 40th over, going back and across to left-arm spinner Grant Flower. In the next over he flicked Heath Streak through mid-wicket for another ripping boundary with minimum follow-through.

The Punjab lad danced down the wicket in the following over, smashing Grant Flower over the mid-wicket fence for maximum with amazing ease. He finished the 44th over with another four through mid-wicket and reached his fifty of a mere 41 deliveries, laced with five fours and a six, having the Zimbabwean 'red ants' scurrying to all parts of the ground.

India plundered 45 runs between the 40th and 43rd overs and snatched a victory from the Zimbabweans, which seemed there for the taking when the top three Indian wickets fell for 56 runs.

The Kaif-Yuvraj combine reached their 50-run partnership off 58 balls, with 34 of those runs scored by the strapping Yuvraj.

With 15 runs required off 21 deliveries, Kaif was finally run-out after he played the ball down the leg-side and ran. Keeper Taibu threw the ball down the non-strikers end, where Friend flicked the ball onto the stumps.

The highlight of Kaif’s knock of 68 was the number of singles -- 37 -- in his innings. His 94-run partnership with Yuvraj, off 91 deliveries, had paved the way for a memorable Indian win.

Yuvraj Singh was unbeaten on 80, off a mere 60 deliveries. He scored 41 of those runs in front of the wicket, on the on-side.

Ajit Agarkar flicked Friend to the mid-wicket fence to breeze India to victory by five wickets.

Zimbabwe innings

The Indian opening pace duo of Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar flaunted some disciplined bowling to puncture the Zimbabwe innings at the onset. Though they failed to tame the early swing, they then pulled their act together after four wides in the first two overs. A whooshing Zaheer Khan delivery kissed Zimbabwe opener Dion Ebrahim's edge on its way to second slip, where Rahul Dravid took the red on the bounce. When the field umpires drew blank rectangles in the air, the third umpire gifted Ebrahim the benefit of the doubt. The replays though clearly confirmed the ball touching the grass.

Alistair Campbell's purple patch in the series turned pale when the southpaw edged Ajit Agarkar to Rahul Dravid at first slip. Three balls later, the Mumbaikar, bowling at express pace, dug one short, and Travis Friend, surprised by the climb, tried the hook shot and gloved the ball to Ajay Ratra, who timed his jump to perfection. Agarkar’s double-strike had Zimbabwe floundering at 13 for 2.

In the fifth over, Ebrahim took on Sourav Ganguly, fielding at mid-off, and won the battle --- the skipper failing to collect the ball. Agarkar and Zaheer, meanwhile, continued bowling a dream opening spell, moving the red either way and using the bouncer to stinging effect. Agarkar, enjoying the conditions, settled quickly into his rhythm and kept Andy Flower, returning from an injury, quiet. With a mere 30 runs scored in the first ten overs for two wickets, Ganguly, playing by the book, rested the opening bowlers after 12 overs. Another wicket at that stage would have augmented the pressure on the tourists, besides shutting the door on them.

Ganguly came on to bowl despite a worrying knee and saw a short wide delivery cut to the fence for Zimbabwe's fifty. Andy Flower and Dion Ebrahim stalled the fall of wickets and worked up the run-rate. Flower, getting a sharp delivery from Agarkar on his left thumb, which was operated upon recently, slashed at a Zaheer Khan bouncer over point for maximum.

Skipper Ganguly, varying his pace, got Dion Ebrahim (38 off 74 balls) sweeping at a slower one to deep mid-wicket down Dravid's throat.

The 66-run partnership for the third wicket gave respectability to the Zimbabwe innings, but another partnership to set the Indians a competitive total was needed.

Grant Flower joined his brother Andy in the middle and settled down to consolidate the innings by finding the gaps with guile; scampering for quick singles and sweeping the spinners out of contention.

Ganguly missed a trick by not giving his best bowlers of the day, Agarkar and Zaheer, a quick spell to nip the Flower partnership in the bud. Debutant left-arm spinner Murali Kartik was given a bowl at the halfway stage of the innings and seemed to be impressive with his accuracy and prodigious turn until Andy Flower employed the reverse sweep and made a complete mess of Kartik's figures.

The Flower brothers plundered 53 runs in the seven overs between 33 and 39, of which Kartik’s two overs cost 24 runs. Attempting to up the tempo for the final assault, Grant Flower was dismissed by Harbhajan Singh in the 40th over. Grant (44) lofted the young Sikh over mid-on only to be caught by Dinesh Mongia, who ran in from long-on to take a stunning catch. [175 for 4]

Andy Flower, who recorded his best performance against India with a first-rate 89 off 107 balls, followed his brother soon after in the 43rd over, edging Zaheer Khan to the keeper. [190 for 5]

The Flower brothers' partnership had reaped 96 runs in the 20-40 over period at almost five runs an over with some brisk running between the wickets; they collectively scored 62 singles during their stay at the crease.

The Zimbabwean think-tank though muffed up their batting line-up by sending birthday boy Heath Streak ahead of the threatening Douglas Marillier, who failed to step on the gas in the final slog overs.

Zaheer Khan played spoilsport to Streak's birthday celebrations, sending his middle-stump cartwheeling with a lethal yorker. [220 for 6]

Three runs later, Marillier slashed Agarkar to third-man fielder, VVS Laxman's hands failing to do an encore of the Faridabad one-dayer performance. [223 for 7]

Skipper Stuart Carlisle and keeper Tatenda Taibu got together and took the Zimbabwe total to 240 before the former was castled by Agarkar, who claimed four wickets for 32 runs. Carlisle scored a quick-fire 40 off 33 balls, with 20 singles in his innings.

India’s fieldwork showed marked improvement with the return of Yuvraj Singh and the young legs of Mohammed Kaif, whose diving stop at the mid-wicket fence was inspiring. The throwing and backing-up though needs to be polished.

Highlights

Scoreboard