Zimbabwe came back more than once, if not actually
from the dead, then as nearly so as makes no
difference, to pull back a one wicket victory and
reduce the series margin to 2-1
Sankhya Krishnan08-Dec-2000Zimbabwe came back more than once, if not actually
from the dead, then as nearly so as makes no
difference, to pull back a one wicket victory and
reduce the series margin to 2-1. It was a
remarkable game of cricket with several twists,
not least the final one when Zimbabwe lost two
wickets in two balls after tying the scores. Henry
Olonga calmly tapped the penultimate delivery, by
Ajit Agarkar, over mid on to seal a triumph that
should certainly shoot down the theory that the
Zimbabweans are chokers non pareil. Being their
first victory against India in India in twelve
tries, it would have been a particularly choice
moment to savour.”Obviously its fantastic for our guys to get their
first victory in India. Its a big confidence
booster. We’re overjoyed”, said skipper Heath
Streak. “Although we lost a few wickets, our run
rate was still up there. Grant and Andy ran
particularly well between the wickets and we never
let the run rate get too far away from us.” Grant
Flower wore an impassive look after the game but
it was clear that the Man of the Match award here
was close to his heart. Asked what he and Andy
decided when they came together, he said, “Just to
keep our heads. The important thing was to keep
wickets in hand since we were playing one less
batsman”. He said that his batting slump had gone
on for longer than he would have liked. “I’m happy
the way things have gone. You just have to take
each game as it comes but obviously the confidence
is there at the moment.”It had looked curtains for the visitors after the
Flower brothers and Gavin Rennie had tumbled in
the space of seven balls to leave Zimbabwe at
214/6 after 41 overs. Andy Flower (77) and Grant
Flower (70) had played sensibly to rescue Zimbabwe
from a precarious 52/3. There was hardly a sign of
risk as they rattled up the runs and the change of
gears, when it came, was barely perceptible. The
partnership was worth 158 before it was broken
when Grant was fooled by a well disguised slower
delivery from Prasad. Rennie was run out first
ball and in the same over Andy Flower was caught
behind off Tendulkar. Heath Streak and Mluleki
Nkala kept them in the game with a 44 run stand
and far from being perturbed by his skipper’s
departure, Nkala struck the next ball from Joshi
for a straight six, one bounce into the
sightscreen, to send an unambiguous statement of
intent to the Indians. He was run out scampering
for the winning run and Agarkar bowled Travis
Friend next ball to add to the drama but Olonga
kept his nerve to hand Zimbabwe a most deserving
victory.Chasing 284 at 5.68 an over, Zimbabwe began
brightly with Alistair Campbell looking in
excellent touch. He stroked the ball around in the
first four overs with an array of sound cricketing
shots. There was not the slightest hint of
crudeness as he procured five boundaries, four off
Venkatesh Prasad. It was Zaheer Khan who made the
first breach, producing a rising delivery which
kissed the edge of Campbell’s bat through to
Dahiya. Both Guy Whittall and Stuart Carlisle
barely troubled the scorers, bringing the Flowers
together with Gavin Rennie the only specialist bat
to follow ahead of a lengthy tail. After playing
themselves in, the shackles were broken in a Joshi
over which went for 16 runs, including a six
apiece by both batsmen to bring up the hundred of
the innings. Soon afterwards, Yuvraj Singh missed
a direct hit at the bowlers end which would sent
Andy Flower on his way and that was just the slice
of luck which Heath Streak said later was about
time went Zimbabwe’s way.Earlier a masterful innings, even by his own lofty
standards, from Sachin Tendulkar helped India off
to a flyer of a start against Zimbabwe in Jodhpur.
The gamble of going into the match with five
seamers, and only the spin of Grant Flower as
backup didnt seem to have worked as the ball kept
disappearing into the wide open spaces in the fast
outfield off Tendulkar’s blade. The lashing
received by the spinners in the previous game from
Sourav Ganguly probably led to the drastic
overhauling of the attack but as it turned out
Ganguly did not last long, departing in the fourth
over for just five after left armer Bryan Strang
got one to sneak in between bat and pad and uproot
his offstump.Having begun with a succession of pulls off Travis
Friend that fetched three fours and a six across a
wide arc from fine leg to midwicket, Tendulkar’s
belligerence was not becalmed by Ganguly’s
dismissal. His cover driving was quite exquisite,
played with a short backlift and minimum follow
through, with the ball through the field in a
flash. A delicate glide off Strang went between
the wicketkeeper and slip with clockwork
precision. When he struck Olonga over long off for
his second six, Tendulkar had reached his half
century in just 37 balls and 39 minutes of
exhilarating batting. He was now giving an
exemplary demonstration of all the strokes in the
book: a straight drive that shaved the stumps at
the bowler’s end, the turn of the wrists from
outside off stump to the midwicket fence and the
cut off the backfoot between point and cover.
India were 102/1 after 15 overs, seemingly on the
way to batting Zimbabwe out of the game.Hereupon the visitors did a simply commendable job
of containing India from thereon. Heath Streak had
emphasised the virtues of discipline in his prematch briefing and that was exactly what the
bowlers strove to achieve. The fifth seamer
Mluleki Nkala did a good job of keeping the
batsmen tight and all the others bowled well in
their second spells. However it was the spinner
Grant Flower who almost singlehandedly put the
fetters on the Indian innings, bowling ten overs
on the trot for returns of 3/43. Rahul Dravid’s
(30 in 53 balls) 114 run stand with Tendulkar was
broken when Grant Flower had him caught at short
fine leg in his first over and he followed it up
by collecting a return catch to dispatch the
disappointing Yuvraj Singh. After that stunning 84
on debut his honeymoon seems to be well and truly
over. Two balls later Hemang Badani was run out,
trying to scamper for what would have Tendulkar’s
100th run, and being rightly sent back.
Tendulkar’s 27th ODI hundred duly arrived, off 93
balls, the second fifty being much heavier going
then the first. When Reetinder Sodhi was caught at
point off Strang, the brittleness of the Indian
middle order had been thoroughly exposed and the
Zimbabweans had surged back brilliantly into the
match.Sunil Joshi joined Tendulkar at 163/5 to begin the
rebuilding process and in a brief knock the
lefthander exhibited his favourite pull to deep
midwicket on bended knee more than once before
being stumped in Grant Flower’s last over with the
partnership worth 57. The lefthander’s 25 in 24
balls had been vital in restoring the momentum of
the innings aborted by the middle order collapse.
The responsibility was Tendulkar’s to marshal the
tail through to a competitive total but he was
caught at short fine leg as he tried to improvise
a shot over fine leg for 146 (153 balls, 15 fours
and 2 sixes). At 235/8, Zimbabwe skipper Heath
Streak would have had illusions of restricting
India to 250. The last over started with India on
256/8 but that last over and more precisely the
last four balls altered the equations
dramatically. A quite sensational display of clean
hitting by Zaheer Khan overshadowed, if that is
possible, even Tendulkar and lift India to a
substantive 283/8. Khan smote four successive
sixes, interrupted by a wide, off a hapless Henry
Olonga and as the ball disappeared for the fourth
time, so one thought did Zimbabwe’s chances. We
were wrong.
