India crawl to strong position

India started the proceedings on day two of the first Test against Zimbabwe at the Vidarbha Cricket Ground, Nagpur with pace bowler Javagal Srinath and spinner Anil Kumble making first use of the overnight new ball, leaving Zaheer Khan, the best bowler on display yesterday, lounging at the fence.

India finished the day at 209 with both the openers back in the hut after a sound but slow start. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were at the crease with VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly awaiting their turn to dig into the ordinary Zimbabwean attack.

In the third over of the morning, overnight batsman Travis Friend read a slower ball from Srinath and indicated his intentions by dispatching the red cherry through the line for maximum. The next ball was timed through mid-wicket for four and India yet again failed to arrest the lower order from increasing the lead.

Kumble started the second over with five men around the bat to Ray Price. Skipper Sourav Ganguly had seven men on the fence for Friend to take the single and get Price on strike. The theory though appeared more defensive than strategic. Price, at that stage, was on 6, off 39 balls, not attacking in the least bit and seemingly displaying sound defence, while Friend was attacking the bowling. Logic would have suggested that therein lay the chance of getting the wicket.

The partnership was worth 59 runs, off 13 overs, and was ironically the second highest partnership of the innings.

Friend got to his second Test fifty off 48 balls, with seven fours and a six. He flayed every Indian poser with the red, playing on the merit of the ball rather than on the reputation of the bowler.

The first bowling change was made after 45 minutes and Harbhajan Singh was brought on. Travis Friend nudged Harbhajan Singh square on the off side and tried to take a single of the last ball of the over to regain strike. Both batsmen hesitated and point fielder Kumble had to merely throw the ball back to wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta to complete the formalities. Price went for 18 off 60 balls, after giving commendable support to Friend.

Reputations preceded common sense courtesy skipper Sourav Ganguly, whose field placements simply elucidated his lack of imagination.

Kumble finally trapped Watambwa in front with a top spinner to fold the Zimbabwe innings for 287 in 103.5 overs.

Friend was stranded on a well-deserved 60 of 70 balls after having steered his team to sanctuary. Kumble finished with 4 wickets for 82 runs though he was guilty of trying too hard in the morning and giving away important runs.

Indian innings

Wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta and S S Das provided a solid start in their reply, with Das looking for scoring avenues while Dasgupta was happy to drop anchor, and with it India's scoring rate.

Dasgupta's performance with the bat and the ease with which he faces the new ball strengthens the argument coach John Wright offers to include him in the Test team as a specialist opener and have Ajay Ratra as the wicketkeeper. This, the coach reasons, will provide the team with the option of having an extra 'keeper in the side when touring overseas.

The selectors though have other designs on the composition of the squad and, therefore, we have a 'keeper in the Test side, which has debatably some of the best stroke players of modern day cricket, more for his skills with the willow than with the 'keeping gloves.

Das played some audacious strokes, making the most of Watambwa's inexperience, a glorious square-drive off Streak and a square-cut off Watambwa being the pick of the lot. India went into lunch at 41/0.

Post Lunch

India reached fifty with a splendid drive by S S Das to the mid-wicket fence, with the Zimbabwean bowling attack seeming listless and lacking penetration.

Most of the fast bowlers, barring Streak and Friend, were off target and bowled too many`hit-me' balls to the fence. Friend and Streak stemmed the flow of runs after lunch along with spinner Ray Price and at one stage the Indians had scored just 9 runs off 9 overs, forcing Dasgupta to break the shackles and dance down the wicket to Price with a four through long off.

Price finally got through Dasgupta, who was padding up to an arm ball that turned in more than he expected and clipped the bails on its flight. India 79/1.

In 30 overs that Zimbabwe bowled, nine were maidens and that once again justifies the age-old theory of bowling maidens in Test cricket. Price bowled three maidens and unsettled Dasgupta to charge him and change his game plan.

At tea, India were 115/1, with 74 runs coming in the post-lunch session for a single wicket.

Post Tea session:

Dravid and Das reached their fifty-run partnership (103 balls) immediately after tea in over an hour. Das, batting with purpose, survived a run-out attempt on 97 and got to his second Test hundred -- the first one was also coincidently scored on the same ground against the same opposition -- with an exquisite square cut off the back foot.

Despite the hundred, Das was guilty of depending on the boundaries instead of rotating the strike and accelerating the score. His hundred came off 184 balls

Dravid, returning to international cricket after his shoulder injury, took his own time to find the sweet spot of the bat. He reached his fifty, punching Watambwa through the covers to reach the personal landmark off 133 balls.

In the last over of the day, Campbell, at first slip, arrested a sharp cut from Das off tweaker Price and left Sachin Tendulkar to face the final four balls of the day as India finished with 209/2.

Just 35 runs came through singles off the 74 overs India faced despite the fact that the Zimbabwe skipper Carlisle forced a 7-2 offside field for most of the day.

The Indian batting was a disappointment, though that does not reflect on the score sheet. Up against a mediocre attack of Streak, Friend and Price, the Indian batting played way below the scoring rate, limping towards erasing the deficit.

The Indian side was supposed to dominate and dictate terms through every session, which they haven’t quite looked to do. Nothing short of winning this series 2-0 will augur well for the reputation of this team.

India today scored 209 runs off 74 overs, losing two wickets against the pedestrian Zimbabwean attack. Half a world away, in a Test match between Australia and South Africa, Australia, at the time of filing this report, were 122/2 off a mere 26 overs at 4.75 runs an over. And that against the South African attack comprising of Allan Donald, Makhaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis and Andre Nel in South Africa.

Maybe, our former skipper Sunil Gavaskar could do well by exercising caution before branding England as the most boring team to watch after India’s tortoise innings.

Scoreboard