It's Indians' day all the way

By Vijay Lokapally

HARARE, JUNE 3. Motivation continued to be a demanding proposition as the Indian's were involved in an exercise which had little competitive interest even though the CFX Academy XI lads had lots to look forward to from this encounter.

On a fairly lovely day, the Indian batsmen first indulged in some run-plunder and then the bowlers got down to the task of getting into the rhythm for the Test series. The CFX Academy was skittled out for 192 and a first innings lead of 255 runs meant the Indians could press the follow-on, but they preferred more batting practice, finishing the day at 15 for no loss.

A total of 447 for four declared was quite justified as the Indian batsmen made the opposition toil in the first innings. Tamil Nadu left-hander Hemang Badani produced a scintillating innings which had entertainment written all over while Sourav Ganguly enjoyed his company for a while.

It is not easy to concentrate when the batsmen know the standard of bowling happens to be poor. The centuries by Shiv Sunder Das and V.V.S. Laxman had provided an ideal platform for the Indians to build their total upon and Badani seized the chance to give an insight into his excellent form.

What mattered in the case of Badani was not the amount of runs he scored but the manner in which he got them. A gifted strokemaker, he likes to get on with the game and he wasted no time in continuing in the same vein as last evening.

Resuming at 69, Badani was under instructions to bat long. Skipper Sourav Ganguly rates this left-hander quite high and there were moments this morning when Badani outshone him. Ganguly appreciated his effort in the middle and allowed the batsman an extra over too to tonk the ball around after having reached his fifth first-class century.

The opposition was weak but that should not take away any credit from the performance of the Indians. It could have been worse if complacency had invited trouble on the eve of the Test match. The aim of the team management was to essentially see the batsmen spend time in the middle. There were not any disappointments on this account for sure.

Resuming at 370 for three, the Indians set their priorities for the day - get some quick runs and have a go at the Academy lads. Badani gave himself the freedom to crack the whip against anything sort and later produced a few lusty hits as the time for declaration came close.

Ganguly followed the pattern of batsmen scoring quickly and retiring out. He cracked a couple of boundaries and hit a big six before retiring. Sairaj Bahutule had little to do as a batsman as Badani hammered the ball around and made the most of the situation. The declaration was most welcome by the bowlers, who had been waiting to test their craft.

Javagal Srinath let the ball fly and looked reasonably pleased with his rhythm. He was expected to make the initial breakthrough and he did not let down, snaring Dion Ibrahim into nicking the ball to wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe.

It was a stern test for the Academy lads to stand up to the Indian seam attack. Srinath had an extended spell before leaving the stage to Zaheer Khan. A little sluggish to begin with, Zaheer found the right line and length to trouble the batsmen with his change of pace. He met with success quickly and grew in strength with every over.

Zaheer proved the most impressive of the seamers even as off- spinner Harbhajan Singh, who finished with four wickets, enjoyed bowling on this track. The ball was stopping and it suited the off-spinner who varied his length to leave the batsmen guessing most of the time.

The fact that Harbhajan was among the wickets must have been a pleasing development for the Indian team management. The match at Mutare had not given the tour selectors much opportunity to assess the form but there was a fair indication today as the bowlers too struck a good length.

Harhajan gave the ball lot of air and that is what he had been aiming in the last match too. Ganguly has been preparing his off- spinner for the bigger battles and there was a lot for him to feel happy about. The disciplined line that his bowlers adopted was a vital gain from the day's cricket on Sunday.

The Academy lads were clearly ill-equipped to deal with such a strong opposition. With little experience of competitive cricket, they hardly offered a fight. Playing and missing was as common as mishits but then they managed to offer some resistance through the lower order.

It was a disciplined innings by Gary Brent, which extended the Academy innings. His unbeaten 72 off 121 balls was his highest first-class total and contained nine fours and a six off Bahutule. The rest just failed to stand up to the Indian attack.

The scores:

Indians - 1st innings: S.S. Das (retired out) 110, S. Ramesh c Ciziba b Soma 42, V.V.S. Laxman (retired out) 100, Hemang Badani (not out) 112, Sourav Ganguly (retired out) 53, Sairaj Bahutule (not out) 7, Extras (b-4, lb-6, nb-4, w-9) 23, Total (for four wkts decl) 447.

Fall of wickets: 1-86, 2-248, 3-287, 4- 414.

CFX Academy XI bowling: Campbell McMillan 20-3-64-0, Mluleki Nkala 13-0-67-0, Leon Soma 10-0-38-1, Gary Brent 20-5-56-0, Ian Coulson 13-1-82-0, Sean Irvine 20-3-72- 0, Barney Rogers 14-2-58- 0.

CFX Academy XI - 1st innings: Dion Ibrahim c Dighe b Srinath 9, Terence Duffin lbw b Zaheer 7, Guy Crozford lbw b Harbhajan 21, Barney Rogers c Dighe b Zaheer 6, Mluleki Nkala c Ganguly b Harbhajan 23, Sean Irvine b Agarkar 3, Gary Brent (not out) 72, Campbell McMillan c Badani b Harbhajan 0, Leon Soma c Dighe b Bahutule 1, Wisdom Ciziba c and b Bahutule 20, Ian Coulson c Das b Harbhajan 17, Extras (b-3, lb-5, nb-5) 13, Total (all out in 74.1 overs) 192.

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-35, 3-47, 4-47, 5-65, 6-76, 7-76, 8-78, 9-155.

Indians bowling: Srinath 18-7-31-1, Agarkar 15-5-32-1, Harbhajan 18.1-7-43-4, Zaheer 13-3-37-2, Bahutule 10-3-41-2.

Indians - 2nd innings: Hemang Badani (batting) 6, S. Ramesh (batting) 7, Extras (b-1, w-1) 2, Total (for no loss) 15.

CFX Academy XI bowling: Nkala 3-0-13-0, McMillan 2-1-1-0.

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