da dobrowin： It was surprising that, with one hand apparently firmly on their firstoverseas Test series victory since 1986, India should relax their gripand allow Zimbabwe to scrape home to level the series in the SecondTest match
John Ward20-Jun-2001It was surprising that, with one hand apparently firmly on their firstoverseas Test series victory since 1986, India should relax their gripand allow Zimbabwe to scrape home to level the series in the SecondTest match.Well though Zimbabwe played at the Harare Sports Club, the result wasperhaps due more to India’s failures with the bat than any otherfactor. Both Test matches had in common the fact that the team winningthe toss wasted that advantage by batting badly and eventually losingthe match. In Bulawayo it was Zimbabwe; in Harare it was India.India’s 237 on the first day of the Harare Test was a poor effortwhich reflected on the lack of application of their batsmen, most ofwhom fell to soft dismissals. They fought back with three quickZimbabwean wickets before the close.The first turning point of the game came when Grant Flower dug in andshared fighting partnerships with the all-rounders in the team,earning Zimbabwe what was really no more than a useful lead of 78 onfirst innings. The pitch was sound for batting, even if the ball didnot come on to the bat as well as the players would have liked, andwith India’s batting power it was quite possible that in the secondinnings they would be able to set a target that was beyond Zimbabwe’sreach.The Zimbabwean team is still not as confident with the bat as itshould be. The Flower brothers and Heath Streak have shown they canhandle pressure, but the rest, for the most part, have too manyfailures under pressure behind them or were untested in that kind ofsituation. A total of 63 all out when chasing 99 against West Indieslast year, under admittedly more difficult circumstances, is anexample of what can still happen all too easily under pressure. I saidat the time that if Zimbabwe failed to bowl out India for less than200 in the second innings, they could be in trouble.One over from the end of the fourth day, Zimbabwe were indeed headingfor trouble. India were 197 for three in their second innings. Thesecond new ball was available for just one over before the close, andZimbabwe took it. This was the second turning point of the match. AndyBlignaut had Rahul Dravid caught at the wicket, and they followed itup in the first half-hour of the fourth day with four more wickets forjust 10 runs.Zimbabwe were set 157 to win, in theory not a difficult target underthe circumstances. But, with Zimbabwe’s past record, it was not aforegone conclusion, and it was indeed to prove a tense struggle. Thefinal turning point of the game was the innings of Stuart Carlisle.Carlisle has no great record in Test cricket, with an average in thetwenties and, before this innings, only four fifties to his credit,the highest of which was 58. He often stabilized an innings at numberthree with a solid twenty or thirty, before getting out just as he waslooking well set. But the Zimbabwean players and selectors know him asa man with a big heart, one who is dedicated to his game and awonderful trier.On this day Carlisle got his reward with what must, under thecircumstances, go down as one of the most vital innings ever playedfor Zimbabwe in a Test match. With Andy Flower suffering a fingerinjury, the team as a whole must have suffered a psychological setbackin chasing their target. But Carlisle was the man who put his hand up,with an innings of superb temperament and judgement. He playedscarcely a false shot in seeing his team home with a new Test best of62 not out. Single-minded determination was the hallmark of hisinnings, evident in every ball he faced. It is to be hoped that thisinnings will give him the confidence to go on to greater things andhigher scores in future.There was much good bowling from both sides. Zimbabwe had to strugglefor runs throughout the match against the Indian pace attack ofJavagal Srinath – below his best in the first innings but magnificentin the second – Ajit Agarkar, who was most unlucky, and Ashish Nehra,perhaps the find of the tour for India. Then there was HarbhajanSingh, who was never mastered by the Zimbabweans, but neither did theylet him intimidate them.Zimbabwe, for their part, also benefited from fine bowling by HeathStreak, Travis Friend, on his debut, and Andy Blignaut, who won theMan of the Match award and was often superb. They bowled a tight offstump line, perhaps a little too defensively at times, but it kept theIndian batsmen in check during that crucial second innings when theylooked ready to take the game out of Zimbabwe’s reach.Both sides fielded superbly. Zimbabwe have always been known for thisvirtue, but India often matched them. The Indian close catching in theseries has frequently been brilliant, with Shiv Sunder Das, RahulDravid and VVS Laxman all worthy of special mention.It has been a good series, and it was a pity the Zimbabwe CricketUnion were unwilling to play a three-match series, for financialreasons, so there could be a decider. The series draw will no doubtincrease India’s desire to win the triangular tournament, starting onSaturday, so as to salvage a rare triumph from an overseas tour.