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Srinath strike puts India back on top

On a fast-paced, bouncy pitch, India played itself into a position of strength around tea-time on day one of the one-off Test against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club.

Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss -- his 11th win on the run -- and inserted the home side, a clear case of the ploy of preparing fast pitches boomeranging on the home team.

For India, Ajit Agarkar and Robin Singh made their Test debuts, the picking of Robin in his dual role of batsman and bowler meaning that Ajay Jadeja had to sit this one out.

The pre-lunch session belonged to Zimbabwe, and at least part of the reason for this lay in a rather unimaginative use of the Indian bowling resources. On a track where the ball was bouncing and seaming around, Srinath bowled just 7, and Agarkar 6, before Saurav Ganguly was introduced into the attack in the 14th over, rather like the prescribed bowling change in ODIs.

From that point on till lunch, it was Ganguly, Robin, Harbajan and Kumble in operation, while the two quicks patrolled the outfield. Zimbabwe thus went in to lunch on a healthy 81/1, the lone wicket being that of Craig Wishart who, after weathering the early pace attack, fell to the swing and seam of Ganguly.

The post-lunch session swung dramatically the other way. First Srinath, in an inspired spell, took out the dangerous looking Murray Goodwin, trapping him in front with a quicker one, and a ball later, found the edge of skipper Alistair Campbell's bat to reduce the home side from 118/1 to 119/3 in the space of three deliveries.

Agarkar, returning to the bowling crease for the first time after his first spell, backed up his hunting partner by taking out the obdurate Rennie, and Anil Kumble ensured that debutant Neil Johnson didn't last too long, inducing a catch to Robin Singh.

At the time of writing this report, Zimbabwe were 157/5 in 55 overs with Andy Flower, the last of the recognised batsmen, partnering Craig Evans in the middle, their individual scores being 19 and 7. With 35 overs left in the day, it's a long haul for the home side, which should be looking to post at least 300 to put a strong Indian batting lineup under some kind of pressure.

Scores in brief: Wishart caught Harbajan bowled Ganguly 21, G Rennie caught Mohanty bowled Agarkar 47, Goodwin LBW Srianth 42, Campbell caught Dravid bowled Srinath 0, Johnson caught Singh bowled Kumble 4, total 157/6 in 55. Srinath 2/31, Agarkar 1/24, Ganguly 1/21 and Kumble 1/17 were the successful bowlers, at this point, for the Indians.

Agencies