Wednesday, Mar 20, 2002
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The Indian cricket team with the Pepsi Cup after winning the fifth and final one-day international to win the series against Zimbabwe at Guwahati on Tuesday. - Photo: Sushantha Patronobish GUWAHATI, MARCH 19. India did wonderfully well to annex the Pepsi one- day International series against Zimbabwe in style with a thumping 101-run victory at the Nehru Stadium here on Tuesday. And the player who did the star turn for India was left-handed Dinesh Mongia. The Punjab star, fairly new to international cricket, not only anchored the innings like a veteran but also came up with his maiden century (unbeaten 159). He was deservingly adjudged the Man of the Match and also the Man of the Series. The innings, one of the best seen on this ground, came in 147 balls. This coupled with a hurricane 75 by exciting Yuveraj Singh enabled India to turn the heat on Zimbabwe as the host piled up 333 for six in 50 overs. Zimbabwe crumbled under pressure to be all out for 232 in 42.1 overs. Skipper Sourav Ganguly was all praise for both Mongia and Yuveraj for taking the match away from Zimbabwe. Sporting a big grin, Ganguly told the media that the series win showed how the youngsters quickly grabbed the opportunity presented to them. ``But for a freak innings in the first game which took the match away from India, we should have won the series 4-1,'' he opined. Expectedly, the Zimbabwean captain, Stuart Carlisle, was a disappointed man. ``Our bowling let us down in today's match. It was wayward. We did not bowl to a plan. Too much width was given to the Indian batsmen to prosper, especially Mongia and Yuveraj. At the same time I don't want to take away the credit from Mongia who played a superb knock.'' When India set a target of 334 for a win, Zimbabwe had little chance to overhaul the huge total, especially after having failed to put up any solid foundation. A lot was expected from its most experienced batsman, Alistair Campbell. When he fell at 50 with a personal score of 31 in the 11th over, the task on hand looked massive. A 62-run partnership for the second wicket between Dion Ebrahim and Travis Friend took the total past the 100 mark, but Friend's dismissal at 111 in the 23rd over shattered any hopes of Zimbabwe pulling off the impossible. Zimbabwe suffered owing to lack of big partnerships except one for the sixth wicket between Grant Flower and Heath Streak for 84 in 69 balls. Otherwise it was just a brief resistance from the top order before India cleaned up the tail quickly. Andy Flower fell trying to lift Harbhajan and was taken by Zaheer running backward and holding on to the skier. Ebrahim went back after adding one run to the total at 114, falling to Ganguly for 31. Zimbabwe then went out of the picture completely. A brief fight back came from Carlisle. The end of Zimbabwe came after Grant Flower was bowled by Zaheer for 48. Danger man Douglas Marillier, Tadenda Taibu and Gary Brent fell in quick succession as the celebrations began in right earnest in the stands. Bharadwaj, who replaced Murali Kartik in the XI this morning to strengthen the batting, failed to impress with his off-spinners. He played one ball before being run out. The dropping of Kartik did look unfair on the left-arm spinner, who by the way, was a capable batsman in the lower-order. But for the huge total, the Indian bowling could have been tested seriously what with only Zaheer, Ajit Agarkar and Harbhajan looking a class apart. Zimbabwe brought in Gary Brent for Pommy Mbangwa, ruled unfit owing to a hamstring injury. Ganguly won a good toss on a hard wicket which, early on, played slow as the Indian batsmen found playing shots a bit difficult. Mongia, opening with Ganguly, read the situation well and did not take undue risks and played safely in front of the wicket only coming up with boundaries when the opportunity came his way. He was so safe that he mostly played on the off-side. His first boundary, an extra-cover drive, came in the second over off Douglas Hondo and the next was hit, a lofted off- drive, also off Hondo in the eighth over. In between Hondo, bowling with purpose and plan, had two maiden overs and it looked run gathering would be a difficult proposition. After Ganguly committed himself forward to a short ball from Streak to be taken behind by Taibu for 28, the wicket falling at 52 in the 11th over, Laxman failed to adapt to the pitch and struggled to come to terms. His early departure, a run out victim, in a way helped India look for Rahul Dravid to accelerate the scoring rate. Meanwhile, Mongia settled down to play a responsible innings and reached his 50 in 64 balls with seven fours, all hit in the off-side. Dravid too was not in his element as he compiled 26 in 33 balls. He was bowled by Hondo, trying to play across. Cheap dismissal of Mohammed Kaif brought Yuveraj to the crease. The two Punjab batsmen joined forces to tear apart the Zimbabwe bowling. From 157 for four in the 31st over to 315 for five in the 49th over, the two plundered runs at will. The blast had its effect as the Zimbabwe bowling fell apart losing line and length. Mongia, playing his 15th international game, reached his maiden 100 in the 15th innings in 121 balls with the aid of 11 hits to the fence. Yuveraj, at the other end, was in a murderous mood, crashing anything hittable. Had Campbell taken a Yuveraj offering when on 41 in the 44th over off Gary Brent, Zimbabwe could have restricted India. The dropped catch egged on Yuveraj to even more aggression and he slammed three sixes after that. When Yuveraj fell to a mistimed shot off Marillier on 75, the two had put on a record partnership of 158 in 107 balls for the fifth wicket against Zimbabwe. The previous best was 86 by Sanjay Bangar and Md. Kaif at Kochi. Zimbabwe conceded more than 121 runs in the last ten overs. From over No. 43 to 47, the two plundered 83 runs. So much for the effectiveness of the Zimbabwean attack. Before the match, a two-minute silence was observed when the news of the death of former India wicketkeeper Naren Tamane reached the venue. Both team players wore black arm-band. The State Chief Minister, Mr. Tarun Gogoi, and the president of the Assam Cricket Association, Mr. Prafulla Mahanta, gave away the trophies.
Scoreboard
INDIA
D. Mongia (not out) 159
(147b, 17x4, 1x6)
S. Ganguly c Taibu b Streak 28
(32b, 4x4)
V.V.S. Laxman (run out) 16
(27b, 2x4)
R. Dravid b Hondo 26
(33b, 1x4)
Md. Kaif c A. Flower b Hondo 5
(6b, 1x4)
Yuveraj Singh c Friend b Marillier 75
(52b, 6x4, 3x6)
V. Bharadwaj (run out) 0
(1b)
A. Agarkar (not out) 6
(3b, 1x4)
Extras (b-4, lb-4, w-10) 18
---
Total (for six wkts. in 50 overs) 333
---
Fall of wickets: 1-52 (Ganguly), 2-98 (Laxman), 3-149 (Dravid), 4-157 (Kaif), 5-315 (Yuveraj), 6-316 (Bharadwaj). Zimbabwe bowling: Streak 9-0-54-1 (w-5), Hondo 10-2- 56-2, Friend 10-0-68-0 (w-2), Brent 9-0-74-0 (w-3), Marillier 6-0-38-1, G. Flower 6-0-35-0.
ZIMBABWE
A. Campbell c Bharadwaj b Zaheer 31
(38b, 4x4)
D. Ebrahim b Ganguly 42
(69b, 2x4)
T. Friend st Ratra b Harbhajan 31
(32b, 4x4)
A. Flower c Zaheer b Harbhajan 1
(2b)
G. Flower b Zaheer 48
(47b, 6x4)
S. Carlisle c Dravid b Bharadwaj 17
(21b)
H. Streak c Zaheer b Harbhajan 39
(36b, 5x4)
D. Marillier b Zaheer 0
(2b)
T. Taibu (run out) 0
(1b)
G. Brent c Kaif b Harbhajan 0
(3b)
D. Hondo (not out) 1
(4b)
Extras (b-2, lb-8, nb-4, w-8) 22
---
Total (all out in 42.1 overs) 232
---
Fall of wickets: 1-50 (Campbell), 2-111 (Friend), 3-113 (A. Flower), 4-114 (Ebrahim),5-143 (Carlisle), 6-227 (G. Flower), 7-227 (Marillier), 8-228 (Taibu), 9-229 (Brent).
India bowling: Zaheer 8-0-29-3 (nb-3), Agarkar 8-0-44- 0 (w-6), Bharadwaj 4-0-32-1 (w-2), Ganguly 10-0-62-1 (nb-1), Harbhajan 9.1- 0-33-4, Yuveraj 3-0-22-0.
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