Andy-Campbell combine baulks India

By G. Viswanath

NAGPUR, NOV. 28. India must accept the state of its fifth Test against Zimbabwe in nearly ten years with a pinch of salt. A true and accurate picture of where this Pepsi series second Test would head toward would come about in the first session of the fifth morning.

The visitors, earnestly challenged by India's captain on Tuesday morning, not only refused to buckle under pressure, but also have wiped out the big deficit of 227 runs and appear to be in the course of giving a new script which might see the Test end in stalemate. This, if happens, would deny Sourav Ganguly a few lines of history in Indian cricket.

At seven minutes to half past noon today, India seemed to have held a firm grip, but in the following three hours and three quarters of an hour, what was heard was the blows of the stoical Alistair Campbell and the uninhibited Andrew Flower, who once again proved to be a thorn in the flesh for India.

Having won the first Test, there is safeguard of the home team winning the two match rubber. A 1-0 win will be still a good mark for a captain who is leading the country only for the third time. What he would regret, in the event of the Test ending in a draw, would be the leading spinner's second rate performance in the Test.

Sunil Joshi is the man he has been backing to the hilt in the last three weeks, but he was same spinner who has let him down badly, having bowled so far 45 overs, conceded 141 runs all for one wicket of Brian Murphy. Joshi's unsatisfactory showing has raised a big question mark against him as a Test match bowler. The national selectors will have three months to think of an alternative spinner when the Australians arrive here next February. They have to probably revert to Murali Kartik who was banished to the reserve list by the captain for this Test.

Srinath mops up the tail

Everything went right for India in the first hour. Javagal Srinath's uncomplicated line and length bowling mopped up the Zimbabwe tail in a matter of 52 minutes. The age-old dictum of bowling inswingers to the tailenders reaped a clutch of wickets for Srinath, who in all his ten years of international cricket has heavily depended on slanting the ball in and making it go straight of the pitch. Srinath, who has opted out of the five- match one-day international series is not any more a fit man. He has a dodgy knee and in the recent past suffered from a troublesome shin.

But what cannot be taken away from Srinath is his purposeful effort when he trapped Heath Streak leg before, forced an edge of the bat of Mluleki Nkala and knocked back the stumps of Henry Olonga.

Grant Flower, was in the least perturbed by the tumbling of wickets. He was nine runs short of his sixth century, having batted with a singlemindedness on Monday. He denied a few runs, in trying to protect Olonga. He was on 98 when Srinath, showed gamesmanship, bowling short and wide outside the off stump, which umpire Steve Dunne promptly penalised. Soon Grant Flower completed his century, a great effort from the right- hander.

He had batted with utmost concentration for in excess of four and a half hours and if any one deserved the feat more, it was him. He had treated the Indian spinners with disdain, but what mattered was his 272-minute occupation of the crease, which prolonged the Zimbabwe innings and kept the lead down to 227.

Zimbabwe's 382 was the third instance of the Indian bowlers' lacklustre showing in the first innings. More than a fortnight ago, Bangladesh made 400 and Zimbabwe declared its first innings at Kotla at a score of 422. Ganguly might have been perfectly justified at pointing the accusing finger at the authorities for not making a pitch that would encourage his spinners. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) must have a rethink on this aspect and instruct its pitch committee to prepare sporting wickets for the series against Australia.

The bowlers must feel the pinch to bowl, which was not evident in Joshi's approach and attitude. Sarandeep showed it because this is his first Test and by picking five wickets, he has made a good first impression, though the likes of Grant Flower and Andrew Flower picked him easily of the pitch and while stepping out.

There was a josh among the Indians at the fall of the third Zimbabwe batsman in the second innings. Guy Whittall and Stuart Carlisle could not refuse the temptation to hit Sarandeep with the spin. Whittall's was a straight forward catch Tendulkar held

at mid-on, but the second one went up spiralling before Tendulkar came down under it to take his second catch.

Left-hander, Gavin Rennie was a trifle fortunate in the sense that his intended pull off Zaheer Khan went over short leg fielder Shiv Sundar Das. But thereafter he hit a ramrod straight drive off Khan when the bowler angled in a delivery and followed it with clean shots off both the spinners. His innings came to an abrupt end, when Ganguly held a fine catch at slip, as Rennie, neither front or back, edged the off-spinner.

At 61 for three and with Sarandeep appearing to play the match winner's role, India was in a commanding position. Campbell who had pottered for 41 minutes in the first innings, was however keen to make amends. This is his 47th Test, but without a century and an average lower than 30. He had batted in the nets for about 30 minutes before the fourth day's play resumed with less than a crowd of 5,000 in attendance.

Determined rescue work

The sheer experience of having represented Zimbabwe for a long time, saw Campbell pull his team out of troubled waters along with an accomplished Test batsman in Andrew Flower.

Andrew Flower showed Campbell the way to tackle Sarandeep. There was no half-way approach by Flower; he stretched fully to meet at the ball at its pitch and went right back to meet the ball after it had turned. And for some time, he kept Campbell away from facing Sarandeep. The pitch had not declined a bit, though boot marks began to appear at the pavilion end. It was long before that Andrew Flower began to exercise his dominance over Sarandeep. He stepped out to hit him straight down the ground, cut him and then pulled him on bent knee over mid- wicket. At the other end, Campbell drove Srinath though cover and extracover and late in the day dispatched him majestically to the mid-wicket fence. Campbell was at ease against Srinath, Agarkar and Khan.

Ganguly turned to Joshi several times, but the left- arm spinner, looked pathetic every time, with Andrew Flower taking heavy toll of him. Never did he lack the confidence when he danced down the pitch to lift the spinners and clear the boundary. Their partnership for the unbroken fourth wicket has already returned 177 runs in less than four hours. They are only 16 runs away from erasing the record partnership for the fourth wicket between the Flower brothers against India. Campbell is 17 runs short of his first century in 47 Tests and Andrew Flower looks set to notch his ninth in 47 Tests. Their aim would be to get to their individual feats and then survive the day. Andrew Flower's undefeated 88 has taken his aggregate from four innings to 394. Campbell and Andrew Flower have given their side a good chance of saving this Test.

Tendulkar's is 200th 200

Sachin Tendulkar's unbeaten 201 here against Zimbabwe in the second Test was the 200th double century in Test cricket. The hundredth double century was scored by New Zealand's Glen Turner.

Scoreboard

INDIA - 1st innings: 609 (for six decl.)

ZIMBABWE - 1st innings:

G. Whittall c Dravid b Sarandeep            84
(246m, 164b, 12x4s)
G. Rennie (run out)                         19
(55m, 27b, 2x4s)
S. Carlisle c and b Agarkar                 51 

(134m, 103b, 8x4s)
A. Campbell c Ramesh b Sarandeep             4
(41m, 35b, 1x4)
A. Flower c Dahiya b Agarkar                55
(122m, 92b, 4x4s, 2x6s)
G. Flower (not out)                        106
(272m, 196b, 12x4s, 4x6s)
D. Viljoen c Dahiya b Zaheer                19
(71m, 42b, 2x4s)
H. Streak lbw b Srinath                     16
(35m, 34b, 2x4s)
M. Nkala c Dahiya b Srinath                  6
(30m, 23b, 1x4)
B. Murphy c Das b Joshi                      0
(5m, 7b)
H. Olonga b Srinath                          0
(8m, 1b)
Extras (b-6, lb-12, nb-3, wb-1)             22
                                           ---
Total                                      382
                                           ---

Fall   of  wickets:  1-43  (Rennie),  2-144   (Carlisle),   3-165 
(Campbell),  4-166  (G.  Whittall),  5-262  (A.  Flower),   6-324 
(Viljoen), 7-359 (Streak), 8-371 (Nkala), 9-372 (Murphy).

India bowling: Srinath 28.1-7-81-3, Zaheer 21-3-78-1, Joshi 25-7-
69-1, Agarkar 23-7-59-2, Sarandeep 22-7-70-2, Tendulkar 1-0-7- 0.
ZIMBABWE - 2nd innings:

G. Whittall c Tendulkar b Sarandeep        11
(58m, 31b, 2x4s)
G. Rennie c Ganguly b Sarandeep            37
(69m, 55b, 6x4s)
S. Carlisle c Tendulkar b Sarandeep         8
(26m, 173b, 1x4s)
A. Campbell (batting)                      83
(238m, 168b, 12x4s)
A. Flower (batting)                        88
(226m, 188b, 10x4s, 2x6s)
Extras (b-2, lb-6, nb-3)                   11
                                          ---
Total (for three wkts)                    238
                                          ---
Fall  of  wickets:  1-24 (S.  Whittall),  2-60  (Carlisle),  3-61 
(Rennie).

India bowling: Zaheer 8-1-21-0, Agarkar 9-1-24-0, Sarandeep 25-4-
76-3, Joshi 18-3-72-0, Tendulkar 8-2-12-0, Srinath 8-2-25- 0.

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