Indians dropped their guard at a vital time
Zimbabwe pulled the rug from under the feet of the Indians with a creditable victory at Jodhpur, thereby registering the first victory in India
Woorkheri Raman
09-Dec-2000
Zimbabwe pulled the rug from under the feet of the Indians with a
creditable victory at Jodhpur, thereby registering the first victory in India. A
combination of some steely resolve of the visitors and the complacency of the
hosts made the win possible. The visitors made a mockery of the general
consensus that the pitch will not last the distance. Not only did the pitch
last, the Zimbabweans sneaked back into the game and finally emerged as victors
much to the chagrin of Saurav Ganguly, the Indian skipper.
Tendulkar played more like himself after a long time unleashing powerful
pulls and drives right from the start. One got the impression that Tendulkar was
a shadow of himself in the recent past for reasons best known to him. The master
batsman entertained the public of Jodhpur with some rousing blows as he raced to
his fifty in quick time. When Tendulkar gets going, not many factors can deter
him from disconcerting the bowlers. Ganguly perished early when Brian Strang
managed to squeeze one through the gate as the left hander shaped to drive on
the up.
Tendulkar settled down to play percentage after his initial burst in the
company of Dravid. The Indians were in a position to really put the game out of
the reach of the visitors when Dravid was dismissed. The collapse that followed
was something inexplicable. Yuvraj Singh, the much-favoured youngster needs to
be reminded that it is about time he got runs consistently. Self-confidence is
alright in an individual but any youngster needs to guard himself from letting
cockiness creeping into his game. Sodhi and Badani exhibited their inexperience
losing their wickets in the process. Tendulkar duly completed his century and
carried on to rally the Indian innings with the lower order batsmen.
Sunil Joshi and Zaheer Khan played some entertaining shots and some of
them were authentic enough to make the top order batsmen proud. Joshi is making
meaningful contributions with the bat of late but he is letting the team and his
skipper down very badly in his main department - bowling. The visitors came back
into the game in the middle overs but Zaheer Khan's clean strikes in the final
over gave the hosts more than a competitive score.
Zaheer Khan and Prasad put the Zimbabweans onto the back foot grabbing
three quick wickets as the top order batsmen tried to adopt aggressive methods
in the early overs. Grant Flower joined his brother Andy and they tried to
Zimbabwe's hopes alive with a calm rearguard act. The partnership was built more
on common sense than on flamboyance, which resulted in the Indians dropping
their guard. The record partnership frustrated the Indians no end and at a time
when it appeared these two would take their team to victory, Grant Flower was
deceived by Prasad's slower delivery.
Nkala, a highly rated all-rounder played a match winning innings when
one takes the circumstances into consideration. He displayed excellent
temperament and it was rather sad that he was not there to get the winning runs
for his side. That part of it was left Olonga amidst great tension and he was
relieved when he got the last couple of runs.
The Indians have to realise they bowled badly and the final combination
also needs to be looked into. Sodhi's enthusiasm apart, there is no place for
him if he does not bowl the entire quota of overs. Sriram who had a reasonable
game at Ahmedabad will be a better option especially if the pitch aids spinners.
It has always been a case of different strokes for different people.