Zimbabwe in India: this is orange county

Trishna Bose

February 22, 2002

India plays host to the visiting Zimbabweans and the capital of the citrus fruit is the first venue for the Test match. For reasons beyond one's comprehension the BCCI have allotted the same venues for the Tests as the previous year when the Zimbabweans visited India. So once again Nagpur, the Orange city, and New Delhi will witness the two teams as they fight it out on the 22-yard pitch.

As the month of the Pisceans begins, Zimbabwe will be looking to swim out of the still waters that they are in at the present moment. After an educative tour of Sri Lanka, they would have sharpened their skills. Whether theory can be put into practice - time will tell.

The Indians are fresh from a relatively satisfactory home series with the English. There will always be room for improvement. There are youngsters in the team who need to be nurtured, who need to be told that the art of performing on the international stage requires a resolute mind. There has to be constant interaction with the senior, more settled, players and the results will show automatically.

Zimbabwe have their share of insecurities. A crucial election is just around the corner for them. The result of the national election could decide the fate of many of the national cricketers. Therefore to be playing a series away from home for them must be unsettling. But the fact of the matter is that the show goes on and cricket has no season any more. The games must be played and the series will go on, and matters of the mind must not matter.

The Vidarbha Cricket Association pitch will be the stage for the next five days. Batsman will try to get the better of the bowlers and vice versa. Will the Sachins and the Souravs got on a run blitz? Or will the Flower brothers bloom and the Streaks strike the Indian batting? Questions that will be answered over the next few days.

Andy Flower and Sachin Tendulkar have feasted on runs in Nagpur as both have scored double hundreds at this ground. Expectations run high, and so will the runs that will flow from the willow. So what if the oranges are not feasted on instead?

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