Newcomers to the fore in India's win

By S. Sabanayakan

CUTTACK, DEC. 2. Youngsters came good when India needed them most as the home side, facing a tight situation, rode on the brilliance of Hemang Badani to win the first one-day International by three wickets against Zimbabwe at the packed Barabati Stadium here on Saturday.

Down in the dumps after a fine start by Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, India recovered through a brave innings from wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya and a fluent unbeaten 58 from Badani. Later Badani was joined by a cool Ajit Agarkar and the pair took India to a morale-boosting victory with 10 balls to spare.

Zimbabwe, which won the toss, amassed 253 for seven in 50 overs. After losing an early wicket, the tourists established an upper hand thanks to the 114-run partnership for the second wicket between opener Alistair Campbell and Stuart Carlisle. Pathetic fielding compounded India's problem but it regained the hold with some disciplined bowling in the end overs to restrict Zimbabwe to 253.

Campbell, striking the ball well, notched up his 23rd half- century before being dismissed for 68, a firm drive landing in Badani's hands. Carlisle, whose superb innings of 91 was the cornerstone of the Zimbabwe innings, was in fine nick and played some excellent shots in front of the wicket. Two spanking drives in Agarkar's first over conveyed the mood Carlisle was in and he went on to hold the innings together.

Douglas Marillier, playing in his fifth one-dayer, was the first to depart, taken nicely by Tendulkar off Zaheer for eight. Andy Flower, expected to provide the impetus to the innings with his uninhibited strokeplay, stepped out to Tendulkar in an effort to send the ball out of the ground but found the Little Master bowling a wide ball. Dahiya, who had dropped Marillier early in the innings, made amends with a clean stumping.

Andy's brother, Grant Flower, and Carlisle took the score past 200 before Grant fell to Agarkar. The lean Indian mediumpacer, bowling rather loosely in his first spell saw Yuveraj Singh come up with an acrobatic catch to dismiss Grant. Once Grant left, India pulled things back capturing wickets at regular intervals.

Zimbabwe failed to add the crucial 20 to 30 runs at a time when it was cruising well. Streak, speaking to the media later, said that the Zimbabwe batting lost focus while nearing 200. ``Twenty to 30 runs more would have helped our team to put the pressure on India,'' he opined.

Meanwhile, skipper Ganguly slammed the team's fielding and rued the seven dropped chances, including the one offered by Campbell which neither he nor Dahiya could take in the slips. Coach John Wright has ordered his boys to have fielding practice tomorrow morning at the Stadium before the team takes the afternoon flight out of Bhubaneswar.

Blazing start

The start of the Indian innings was nothing short of spectacular with Tendulkar and Ganguly putting the Zimbabwe attack to sword. The opening stand of 102 in 20.2 overs put the host firmly on road to victory. Tendulkar played in typical fashion while Ganguly kept up the good work. The departure of Tendulkar and Ganguly in quick succession, for 44 apiece, and the loss of Yuveraj Singh and Dravid (a run out victim) immediately thereafter put India in a precarious position. When one expected Reetinder Singh Sodhi, the debutant, to come good at a time when India needed his exuberance the most, Badani's poor call found Sodhi getting run out at 144 in the 31st over.

At this stage, India looked in real trouble but Badani and Dahiya settled down to help India stage a recovery. If Badani was confidence personified and chose the right ball to punish, Dahiya came up with a series of daring shots to rattle the Zimbabwe attack.

The two added 60 runs in 61 balls for the sixth wicket before Dahiya fell for 35. With Sunil Joshi and Ajit Agarkar to follow, India looked in control but Joshi fell leg before off the first ball he faced. The setback did not deter Badani and Agarkar, who slowly but steadily took India to the target. With 17 needed for victory, umpire Jasbir Singh seemed to have erred while ruling Badani in, but the throw had actually broken the stumps.

Had the umpire called for a TV replay, Zimbabwe would have come back into the game what with just Zaheer Khan and Venkatesh Prasad remaining.

The unbroken eighth-wicket stand produced 50 off 36 balls, and deservingly it was Badani who came up with the winning stroke-a stylish straight drive to the boundary off Streak. Badani punched the air in delight to signal India's ninth win in 10 encounters against Zimbabwe, the other being a tie.

Scoreboard

ZIMBABWE

A. Campbell c Badani b Agarkar               68
(92b, 7x4, 1x6)
D. Marillier c Tendulkar b Zaheer             8
(24b, 1x4)
S. Carlisle (not out)                        91
(125b, 6x4)
A. Flower st. Dahiya b Tendulkar             11 

(20b, 1x4)
G. Flower c Yuveraj b Agarkar                25
(26b, 2x4)
G. Whittall c Agarkar b Prasad               20
(12b, 3x4)
H. Streak b Prasad                            5
(6b)
D. Viljoen (run out)                          2
(2b)
T. Friend (not out)                           0
(1b)
Extras (lb-8, nb-8, w-7)                     23
                                            ---
Total (for 7 wkts in 50 overs)              253
                                            ---
Fall  of wickets: 1-27 (Marillier), 2-141 (Campbell),  3-167  (A. 
Flower), 4-205 (G. Flower), 5-230 (Whittall), 6-245 (Streak),  7-
248 (Viljoen).

India bowling: Zaheer 10-1-46-1, Prasad 10-0-29-2, Agarkar  10-0-
74-2, Joshi 8-0-43-0, Sodhi 8-0-31-0, Tendulkar 4-0-22-1.

INDIA

S. Ganguly c Campbell b Viljoen             44
(80b, 3x4)
S. Tendulkar c Streak b Viljoen             44
(49b, 7x4)
R. Dravid (run out)                          9
(16b, 1x4)
Yuveraj Singh lbw b Murphy                  11
(6b, 2x4)
H. Badani (not out)                         58
(67b, 3x4, 1x6)
R.S. Sodhi (run out)                         9
(19b)
V. Dahiya c & b Murphy                      35
(35b, 3x4, 1x6)
S. Joshi lbw b Streak                        0
(1b)
A. Agarkar (not out)                        19
(16b, 3x4)
Extras (lb-9, nb-10, w-7)                   26
                                           ---
Total (for 7 wkts in 47.2 overs)           255
                                           ---

Fall  of  wickets:  1-102  (Tendulkar),  2-109  (Ganguly),  3-122 
(Yuveraj),  4-129 (Dravid), 5-144 (Sodhi), 6-204 (Dahiya),  7-205 
(Joshi).

Zimbabwe  bowling:  Friend  7-0-36-0,  Olonga  10-0-56-0,  Streak 
9.2-0-38-1, Murphy 6-0-45-2, Viljoen 9-0-46-2, G. Flower  6-0-25- 
0.

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