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Zimbabwe dominate on day three

At start of play, India had the outside chance to consolidate. By close of play, though, it was the home side that had batted itself into an all but impregnable position.

The need, at the outset, was to occupy the crease, with runs coming off patient accumulation. However, it took a mere 12.2 overs for the last four wickets to tumble, for the addition of just 32 more runs to the overnight total.

Robin Singh, debuting at an age when most cricketers are planning their benefit matches, was ostensibly brought into the side to strengthen the batting. He went in the fifth over of the morning, trapped in front by an incoming delivery from Olonga to give that bowler his first five wicket haul in Tests.

In short order, both Agarkar and Srinath -- whose brief would have been to stay with Dravid -- went, apparently suffering the aftermath of one day fever. Both fast bowlers are capable of holding their end up with the bat, yet neither seemed to see the need for any application out in the middle.

And with just Harbajan Singh -- one of nature's bunnies -- left, Dravid finally brought his patient vigil to a close, driving uppishly to cover point to be the last man out.

India were 59 ahead on the first innings, and needed a quick breakthrough or three to take the upper hand. Craig Wishart seemed a natural to provide that initial wicket, looking decidedly uncomfortable in the face of a fine opening spell by Javagal Srinath. The pressure induced him, when facing Agarkar in the 6th over, to push at one without getting into line, only for Azharuddin, of all people, to grass the chance at second slip.

Wishart, at that point, had not yet opened his account. When he finally departed, playing a tired shot at Kumble to give that bowler a return catch, he had made capital out of his early let off with 63 runs to his name, and more importantly, had helped Zimbabwe wipe off the deficit and go 79 runs ahead before the first wicket fell.

If Murray Goodwin had to come in with the side one down for next to nothing, he presumably would have been under some pressure. 138/1 in the second innings is, however, a great score for a Test number three to have at his back, and Goodwin played with refreshing freedom, letting his partner Rennie (who, after a tentative start, was increasingly finding the middle of the bat) anchor one end while he played with freedom at the other.

Srinath was the most consistently impressive of the Indian bowlers, especially in his two spells on either side of the lunch break when he went for (6-2-9-0 and 4-0-9-0). And towards close of play, with Rennie going strong on 84, he made one climb up at the batsman, beating the pull shot with pace and bounce to rap him on the head and necessitate extended on-field treatment. Rennie eventually was forced to retire hurt.

The incident caused Goodwin, who was cruising along quite nicely, to lose his concentration at the other end, playing too early at a Kumble flipper to provide the bowler a catch off the leading edge.

Agarkar had an impressive first spell of 5-1-7-0, but in his latter essays with the ball, tended to stray in line and length, pitching short often and taking stick.

The medium pace support bowling, of Saurav Ganguly and Robin Singh, was stingless. The latter was included in the side as the batsman-cum-medium pace stock bowler, but only managed to add a lacklustre bowling performance to his failure with the bat.

Kumble was left to do the bulk of the bowling, and did his job with trademark accuracy. However, accuracy alone wasn't getting wickets on this track, and though the Zimbabwe batsmen played him with caution, they seemed rarely in any trouble.

The other spinner, offie Harbajan Singh, flighted the ball right up inviting strokeplay -- the batsmen, for their part, played carefully, latching on to the odd loose ball to get the runs.

With wickets in hand and well ahead on runs -- at close, Zimbabwe were 219/2 in 75 overs, ahead by 160 runs with eight wickets in hand -- Zimbabwe will in all probability look to stretch the lead to around the 350 mark by tea or a little after, on day four, before letting India have its second go-round with the bat.

This game plan was already in evidence at the fall of the first wicket -- Goodwin and Rennie stepping up a couple of gears, to add 64 in 16.5 overs for the abruptly terminated second wicket partnership, a cracking pace by Test match standards.

The kind of batting, carried on to day four, can put up the sort of score that will force the Indian batsmen, on a last day pitch, to play an attritive game -- something the recent overdose of one dayers will not have mentally prepared them for. And that could make the difference in the eventual outcome of this match.

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