Zimbabwe defies rain, Indians, to win key game

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India has an unhappy knack of never getting it all right at one time. If the opening clicks, the middle order fails. If the middle succeeds, the slog overs are messed up. If everything goes more or less okay with the bat, the bowling and fielding are all over the place.

This conundrum, of why India can't put it all together at one time, will continue to puzzle followers of the game. Meanwhile, the bare facts are that India lost to Zimbabwe, and are now left with no points, and just one game to play.

The question will be asked, what if India win on Sunday against Zimbabwe? Well, as of now, India is batting -0.30 on the net run rate, Zimbabwe has -0.20. Which means that it is not enough for India to win, it will have to do so with a sizeable margin to top the run rate - all of which indicates that India is pretty much out of the game here, the more so because Zimbabwe, having finally won one against India after 13 attempts, will be up there on the morale front.

Meanwhile, the match report...

The Indian innings

The Centurion Park wicket was hard enough to discourage spinners, yet not so hard as to make the pace bowlers smile. A decent batting track, in fact, and India going into the game made the expected change, with Salil Ankola coming back in place of Sunil Joshi. For Zimbabwe, two changes - Matambandanzo after a disastrous outing against RSA gave way to John Rennie, while Craig Evans was preferred to Craig Wishart.

Tendulkar won the toss, and had no hesitation in batting first - the obvious move, on this wicket. And though the batting lineup supplied by the management indicated that Tendulkar himself would open with Ganguly, it was in fact Dravid who walked out to open.

Dravid takes his time at the beginning of an innings, before slowly easing his scoring rate into more equitable proportions with the balls faced. And after seeing off the early threat of breakthroughs by Brandes and Rennie, the right-handed opener seemed to be settling down when, seeing that there were no slips in place, he tried to steer Rennie down to third man. Trouble being, the ball he selected was a shade too close to off stump for the shot - which means that the ball goes too close to the keeper, rather than past him. In the event, Andy Flower had an easy job of it pouching the feathered edge, and Dravid (12 off 30 with one four), after doing the hard work, had to leave without reaping any of the rewards. India 25/1.

For the life of me, I will never understand why Srinath keeps getting sent ahead as pinch hitter. Two things were wrong with the promotion - one, good theory is that the pinch hitter comes in if the first wicket falls say in over number 11 or later, so that a few hefty slogs can take advantage of the field restrictions and then the pinch hitter can yield to the more recognised batsman. In this case, the wicket had fallen in over number 8. And point two, Srinath tends to poke at the ball outside off rather than hit through the line, which is what a pinch hitter is there to do, so his choice in the role was bad enough. Interestingly, for the last league game against RSA, Tendulkar had indicated that Saba Karim would go up in that slot if the need arose, so why Srinath was again sent in remains a mystery. In the event, one hefty slog for six, several pushes and pokes and near misses and finally, Srinath (9 off 14 with one six) hit Streak straight to Evans at mid off, and India were 46/2.

That brought Tendulkar to the wicket and though tentative initially, he picked up his footwork and timing in about three overs, and seemed to be going nicely when Ganguly (33 in 44 with three fours), who for some reason appeared to suddenly lose his patience after batting in exemplary fashion, tried to draw away from the stumps and slash Whittall over cover, for Paul Strang to hold a good catch. The pity here was that the ball was far enough down leg to have been tucked off the pads for runs, and Ganguly had again thrown it away after getting off to a good start and playing a very well timed pull, as part of his new-found legside repertoire, besides the two fours through the off. India 67/3.

Azhar joined Tendulkar and the Indian batting finally came into its own. Neither batsman seemed in any hurry, merely working the ball around and taking the singles and occasional twos, running well in tandem and when the bowler put it in the slot, coming up with the odd big hit to further ease the pressure. Thus, from being 74/3 in 20, these two took it to 95/3 in 25, 131/3 in 30 and again, a platform appeared to have been erected for a score around the 250-mark, which would have put India in the driver's seat here.

But then, India's bane on this tour thus far has been its inability to sustain partnerships, and here again the batsmen threw it away after having it in the bag. Campbell, in a move of desperation as the runs kept coming, brought himself on and bowled an innocuous ball outside leg stump. Sachin could have comfortably tucked it down to fine leg for a couple but instead, rather contemptuously went down on his knee and aimed the hoik over midwicket for Andrew Waller to run in, dive forward and pull off a superb catch. India 137/4 and Sachin, who had got 41 off 56 with a six and a four, guilty like Ganguly before him of throwing it away after getting well set.

The trouble with not building on partnerships is that a new batsman has to get set all over again, and it also throws the surviving partner off his stride. And that happened here as well, with Azhar, who on the day appeared to have problems picking Strang's googly, blindly going down the wicket and being stranded when the keeper flicked the bails off. His had been yet another good innings, characterised by wristy flicks and drives through covers, his 44 coming off 67 with a four and a six, but more important than the fact that India were now 161/5, it meant that a senior, and settled, batsman would not be around to guide the Indian innings through in the last stages.

And just how vital such guidance is, can be judged from the fact that from 174/5 in 40 overs, India slumped dramatically to 216 all out in 48.4, in effect losing six wickets for 42 runs off 8.4 overs.

Jadeja, who after beginning with singles and hard-run twos was just beginning to open out, dashed down the wicket to a push from Robin Singh that had gone straight to the fielder. Now backing up is one thing, but finding yourself shaking hands with your partner at the other end when the ball goes straight to the close in fielder is something else, and Jadeja (36 off 40 with two fours and one six) was out by miles as Streak relayed the ball back to the bowler's end. India 195/6.

Singh's concentration appeared to have been shaken by that one, and just one over later, he called Kumble for an impossible second run and, after getting 11 off 17 and needing to stick around for the finish, found himself out of his ground as Brandes, one of the best throwing arms in the Zimbabwe side, rifled one in from the square leg fence. India 198/7.

Ridiculous though it sounds, Saba Karim (10 off 15 with one four) rather than benefit from those two examples of injudicious running did a number of his own, running through only for Campbell, to whom Ankola had pushed the ball, to complete the formalities - and formalities it was, as again, there was no run where one was sought.

Must we continue? Kumble had, just a couple of balls prior to Karim's departure, aimed a drive at Brandes that would have taken the ball, had he connected, over extra cover. The ball needed to be more full in length for the stroke, though. In the event, it was short and leaving him, and Andy Flower dived and pulled off a great catch behind the stumps. India 8/216. And 9/216 a ball later, as Karim did his bit for the cause. And incredible though it sounds, though as many as 8 balls remained in the innings and the sensible thing, remembering too that this contest for a final berth could still be decided on run rates, to do would have been to ensure that India was not all out before the allotted 50 overs. Ankola, though, stood tall and slogged Brandes down Campbell's throat at long on, and India were all out for 216 in 48.4 overs - a good 25, 30 runs short of a match winning total.

The Zimbabwe innings

The players had barely settled down to their cold cuts when a thunderstorm broke over the ground. And by the time the pitch and surrounds had been more or less dried out and play was resumed, the calculators of the match referee and the umpires had revised the Zimbabwean task to scoring 171 in 34 overs. Interestingly, this meant Zimbabwe had to score 5+ per over - faster than it would have had to score, if the full innings was being played.

Meanwhile, how did the rain affect conditions? For one thing, it slowed the outfield down a bit, so that the ball would have a bit of a struggle getting to the ropes. For another, it meant that bowlers would constantly struggle with the wet ball, difficult to grip and impossible to move in the air. By way of plus point, though, the moisture that would have seeped down to the pitch meant that quick bowlers would get a bit of juice early in the innings when the ball was hard.

Zimbabwe, obviously looking to get quick runs during the 10 overs when field restrictions would be in place, opened in aggressive style, the in form Grant Flower in particular rocketing the score along at a good six an over for the first four overs. Andy Waller, who has had a rather poor trot in this tournament, tried to join in the fun by slashing Prasad down to third man, and Ganguly - who against RSA earlier had let a simpler catch in the same position go unattempted, indicated that the Indian side was fired up in the field today when he raced in, dived forward and pulled off a beauty to take out Waller for two runs off eight deliveries, and have Zimbabwe on 16/1.

Grant Flower, who has been in very good form in this tournament, went on untroubled, and just about looked to be running away with the game when Ankola, who in the previous over had made one lift from on good length to hit brother Andy a painful rap on the ribs, bowled one outside off and cutting in. Grant Flower (28 off 32 with four fours) aimed a cut at it, playing for the ball going straight, and ended up chopping the ball onto his stumps to reduce Zimbabwe to 46/2.

Guy Whittall had been upped in the order to try and strike a few good blows, but Robin Singh, in particular, bowled such a good line and length that he got increasingly frustrated and, after a laboured four off 10 balls with one boundary hit the sole scoring stroke, he pushed the ball to mid on and ran with the stroke. Ganguly, who appeared hell bent on proving critics of his fielding abilities wrong, raced in, attacking the ball in a manner he has never displayed thus far, dived forward, picked up and threw down the stumps while prone on the ground to effect an electric run out and reduce Zimbabwe to 53/3.

One run later, Andy Flower (9 off 20) - who after that clout on the ribs looked totally shaken by first Ankola, then Srinath returning for a quick spell, tried to break the shackles imposed by Robin Singh, and ended up feathering an edge to the keeper off an attempted glide down to third man, a la Dravid in the Indian innings. Zimbawe 54/4 and, a brief recovery authored by skipper Campbell and the experienced Dave Houghton (13 off 20) later, 77/5 when Houghton, like Andy Flower before him, tried to break free of Robin's shackles and ended up swiping him down Anil Kumble's throat at square leg.

And the disaster seemed complete when one run later, Campbell got himself run out in bizarre fashion. Craig Evans pushed to cover, Ganguly - whom the ball seemed to follow on the day - raced in but inadvertently kicked the ball away instead of fielding it, the batsmen took off on the misfield, Ganguly went hairing after it and almost collided with Azhar who dashed in from point, and Azhar still managed to pick up, fire in a return to the keeper and catch Campbell comfortably out of his ground and reduce Zimbabewe to 78/6.

Consider the situation, the, after 20 overs. Zimbabwe reduced to 82/6. Still needing 89 runs off 84 balls and, with just four wickets in hand, not having any margin whatsoever for error.

The ploy for the Indians here would have been simple enough. Robin had, by bowling well within himself, showed how hard it was to hit the ball when it was not coming into the batsmen, with a superb spell of 7-1-18-2. Given that both Evans and Strang were new to the wicket, it was the ideal time to squeeze in three, four tight overs from the likes of Jadeja and Ganguly, keeping a restrictive off side field and getting both bowlers to bowl on or around off. Even if the two had given away four runs per over for say a couple of overs apiece, it meant that four overs would have been saved for the main bowlers, towards the end, and Zimbabwe would have at the same time found the asking rate climbing even higher.

Check out the Zimbabwe bowling card, and you will find that Campbell, in the Indian innings, used as many as 8 bowlers, including non-regulars such as himself and Grant Flower. His ploy was simple - whenever a new batsman came on, he quickly got an over or three bowled by a non-regular, before the batsman had got set, and thus reserved the overs of the main bowlers for when he needed them most.

India, however, let Jadeja and Ganguly remain in the outfield, and kept rotating Kumble, Srinath and Prasad. And well though these three - particularly Srinath, who was on fire on the day - bowled, it meant that somewhere along the line, a weaker bowler would need to bowl a few against set batsmen, as opposed to ones who had just arrived at the wicket.

And so it proved. Ankola, who had bowled a steady first spell, was brought on in the 27th over, when the ask for Zimbabwe was well over 7 per over. A clubbed four over extra cover, and almighty pull for six over square leg, another on drive for three, then a slashed four to point, and Zimbabwe were back in the hunt.

And Tendulkar choose just that moment to bring himself on. Ever since straining his rib, he hasn't been able to stretch himself while bowling, and Evans exposed his folly with a mighty heave for six off the first ball, which was predictably short and wide of off stump, followed by some scampered twos and singles to take 11 off the over.

And from that point on, though Zimbabwe did manage to be behind the run rate till the very last over, when it needed nine runs off six balls from Prasad, the game was as good as gone. Because at this stage, it was too late to try non-regulars, which meant Srinath and Kumble, the most restrictive of the regulars, had to be bowled through and created a situation where, for the final over three overs, Srinath - easily the hardest to hit, on the day, with his knack of getting unnerving bounce from good length - had only one to contribute. So it was left to Prasad to bowl the last over, and when you need nine runs off six balls, you go after the bowler, especially one of the lesser pace of Prasad. Streak did, finishing things off in style with a clubbed four over midwicket, a couple of hard-run twos and a push to mid off for the scrambled single, to get the runs off four balls and win with two balls, and three wickets, to spare.

Zimbabwe can take pride in this one - first, the ask rate was pushed up by the rain interruption, then it found itself behind the eight ball at 78/6. India, meanwhile, fought hard, fielded with total commitment - until those two disastrous overs, by Ankola and Tendulkar. Once 28 runs went off two overs, it was as if the Indians reverted to their shoddy ways - the heads hung low, and barring Srinath, the others just seemed to give up. Zimbabwe, in sum, showed the more positive, never-say-die attitude - and, deservedly, won.

Bringing with it, for Zimbabwe, the almost certain prospect of a final berth. While for India, a day or more of chewing their nails, then one more game on Sunday - and a game that it not only needs to win, but win big-time, if it is still to upset calculations and make it to the final. And the odds against that happening, at the point of writing this, seem too astronomical to call...

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