Brandes, Robin Singh in dead heat - it's a tie!

Prem Panicker

Unlikely as it would have seemed before play began, India and Zimbabwe played out a classic one-dayer at Paarl, in their first meeting in the SBI triangular one day competition. And given the way fortunes ebbed and flowed for first one side, then the other, a tie was a fair result.

Interestingly, the two players who performed heroics for their respective sides - Eddo Brandes for Zimbabwe and Robin Singh for India - created this result off the last ball not through brilliant cricket, but by letting the pressure get to them and making elementary errors. Because had Brandes held his nerve with the ball, or Singh with the bat, the result could have been decisive in favour of one or the other side.

Here is how it all happened:

The Zimbabwe innings

The wicket at Paarl was not the even-paced kind of track teams are generally used to in South Africa, but a more two-paced wicket which, while likely to behave itself for the most part, did carry with it a tendency for the ball to suddenly keep low and shoot through just enough to put that shade of doubt in the minds of batsmen. Another point to keep in mind here would be that the cross bat strokes - the cut and pull in particular, were fraught with risk, the best way to get runs was to play straight through the line.

Alistair Campbell won the toss and elected to bat, adn Zimbabwe found itself in trouble right in the beginning when Venkatesh Prasad, who with Srinath bowled a great first spell, produced a well disguised slower one of yorker length for Andrew Waller to play all over it and lose his off stump. Waller bowled Prasad 6 off 13 with one four, Zimbabwe 17/1.

Andy Flower came in to partner brother Grant, and as always looked to be going well when the Zimbabwean penchant for taking more risks that necessary on the running between wickets did for him as he tried a run that wasn't there and was beaten by the throw to the keeper's end. Andy Flower run out 7/17 with one four, Zimbabwe 32/2.

Grant Flower was beginning to look ominously good, and willing and able to pull off another innings like the 90 he scored against South Africa when Salil Ankola, who in these two games has shown a commendable ability to keep the ball on a tight length and line and bowl economically and well, bowled one of fuller length, which took the bottom of the batsman's blade and trickled on to the stumps. The change of pace had deceived Flower there, and it was interesting to see Ankola, like Srinath and Prasad before him, vary his pace to create uncertainity in the minds of the batsmen. Grant Flower bowled Ankola 28 off 48 with three fours.

Paul Strang, whose big hitting feats in the game against SA had earned him a promotion to number four, found himself tied down by the accuracy of Ankola and Robin Singh who, after a rocky start, settled down to bowl a steady length and line. The runs came, but only via a trickle of singles as Zimbabwe was forced to wait till the 28th over to register its 100. And with Kumble adding his bit to the restrictive line, and the Indian ground fielding (unlike its catching) proving on par with prevailing standards, it was on the cards that the batsmen would attempt to hit their way out of trouble, and hence succumb. And so it proved, Strang taking a hefty swipe at a fuller length ball from Prasad for Kumble, fielding a few yards in at long on, to take a well-judged overhead catch. Strang caught Kumble bowled Prasad 47/87 with four fours.

Skipper Alistair Campbell meanwhile was getting more than his share of luck. A leading edge off a flick at Ankola landed agonisingly close to Robin Singh and keeper Saba Karim, both fielders going for the catch and in the end, missing a sitter because neither called for it. Another flick put the ball in the air for Ganguly, on the backward square fence, to walk in leisurely and field on the first bounce when a bit more urgency would have presented him with an easy catch. And if you consider that Grant Flower, slashing at one outside off from Ankola, saw the ever reliable Azhar letting one through his hands, the Indian catching, as per usual, appeared to be letting the bowling down and taking the pressure off. Campbell too advantage to play with calm composure, working the singles well, coming up with the odd bit hit - including a lovely drive down the wicket off Kumble for six - and threatened to run away with the game when he hit a slower one from Srinath in the air, for Ajay Jadeja, running in from the line at long on, to hold a brilliant catch diving forward. Campbell caught Jadeja bowled Srinath 61/70 with three fours and one six, Zimbabwe 172/5.

David Houghton always threatens big things by the very ease with which he middles the ball from the first delivery he faces. In the event, however, he cut at Kumble too early, and Venkatesh Prasad did the rest before the batsman had fully settled down. Houghton caught Prasad bowled Kumble 13 off 16 with one four, Zimbabwe 179/6.

Guy Whittall is credited as a bit of a hefty hitter, but in trying to live up to it, he swished too early at a slower one from Prasad for the bowler to hold the leading edge on his follow through, jogging gently to where short square leg would have been. Whittall caught and bowled Prasad 9/16, Zimbabwe 211/7.

Craig Evans, brought into the side for this game, meanwhile was justifying his call up by taking the attack to the opposition. Well placed pushes, electric running, a few ugly heaves and three good, clean hits over the field, two in the last over bowled by Anil Kumble, ensured that Zimbabwe put up a total of 236, something that had appeared unlikely when the batting side laboured for 28 overs to reach the 100-run mark. In the event, Evans aimed another huge swipe at Kumble who, for his part, kept it on the stumps, and Evans was bowled off the last ball of the 50th over, to leave Heath Streak not out on 4 off 7 deliveries. Evans bowled Kumble 40/32 with two fours and three sixes, Zimababwe 236 for 8 in 50 overs.

India tried out six bowlers, with Srinath outstanding (10-0-34-1), Prasad very good initially and a shade expensive at the end, though striking regularly to peg the Zimbabwe onslaught back at crucial points (10-1-49-3), Robin Singh pretty tidy in line and length (7-2-33-0), Ankola impressive with his control and thoughtful variations (8-1-32-1), Kumble tight till the very end, when Evans in particular went after him with a vengeance (10-1-58-2) and took some of the joy of getting his 150th ODI wicket in his 105th game away from him, and Tendulkar doing his up and down stuff to give 22 off his five. Jadeja, having got clubbed in his first outing, perhaps did not have the confidence of his skipper, but why Tendulkar has a blind spot when it comes to giving Ganguly a bowl continues to surprise me.

In the event, dropped catches on the part of the Indians, and the readiness to capitalise on them with some good intelligent cricket by the Zimbabweans, must be credited with the batting side getting a good 25, 30 runs more than it should have - and those runs were, in the final analysis, to prove crucial.

The Indian innings

When India began its chase, the sun was just readying to set - which brings with it tricky light conditions (mind, it is not just here that the team batting second was so afflicted, similar contributions contributed at least in part to SA losing three quick wickets early in its innings two days previously) that make spotting the ball rather difficult.

The best bet for the Indian openers was therefore to play with a bit of caution till the sun was down and the artificial lights had fully taken over the job of illumination, before stepping on the accelerator.

And that seemed, for a brief while, to be Tendulkar's gameplan as, after a lovely flicked four through midwicket, he played the outside-off line of Brandes with circumspection, leaving them well alone. When you bowl that line short and make the ball rise, though, the Indian skipper fancies his chances of hitting the ball with the bat facing the heavens, lifting the ball over slips or point. He tried it again here, rather needlessly, and ended up edging to first slip. Tendulkar caught Campbell bowled Brandes 6/8 with one four, India 10/1.

Srinath had produced a classy innings against RSA in the previous encounter when promoted to fill the breach, mainly because he kept his head, played straight, and kept looking for singles and only hitting hard when the bowling deserved it. If he kept his head then, he lost it today, trying swishes outside off, flicks across the line and almost everything else he could think of, till Brandes kept one full up to beat the flick and peg back his stumps. Srinath bowled Brandes 8/10 with one four, India 22/2.

Azhar came in, looked good straight off (when does he ever look otherwise), middling the ball right from the start. And therein lay the problem as, with shadows across the pitch and the light a mix of the natural and the artificial, Azhar eschewed the patience the conditions demanded and drove at a swinging yorker from Brandes without his feet moving an inch, and walked to the sound of rattling timber. Azharuddin bowled Brandes 6/9, India 40/3.

From there, the composed Dravid and the unusually subdued Ganguly mounted a recovery, getting runs mainly through singles and looking increasingly assured until Dravid pushed one to midwicket, took off in response to his partner's call, did an about-turn when Ganguly reversed his call and found himself flat on his face as Campbell picked up and knocked the stumps over with a direct hit. It was a rather tragic way to go, reminiscent of Klusener's departure against India the other day, and India found itself back on the backfoot just when things seemed to be improving. Dravid run out 23/43 with two fours, India 85/4..

Jadeja came in at this stage, and promptly the pace of run-getting picked up a bit, though the batsman avoided his usual heroics in favour of intelligent push-and-run tactics. The 100 came up in the 24th over, and India, despite the loss of four, was comfortably ahead of Zimbabwe on the run rate, having taken four overs less to get to that mark. What was needed was the canny accumulation of runs through deft placement and running, and the two batsmen seemed intent on just that when Ganguly slashed needlessly at an innocuous one from outside his off stump and, after an innings of patience and circumspection, departed rather needlessly to a good catch at point. Ganguly caught Grant Flower bowled Evans 38/79 with three fours, India 110/5.

That brought Saba Karim, promoted ahead of Robin Singh, to the wicket, and he in tandem with Jadeja but on a lovely exhibition of running between wickets, moving the score along at a fair rate and again turning things round for the batting side which, at that point, looked in danger of fading out of the match altogether. Against RSA, Karim was classically correct in his batting, here he took the odd risk but always seemed in control till he mistimed a push to one that leg spinner Paul Strang held back, for the bowler to dive to his left and pull off a superb return catch. Karim caught and bowled Strang 38/46 with one four, India 166/6.

In came Robin Singh, but he had barely settled down when Jadeja, who unusually for him preferred to get all his runs with placements as opposed to his normal big-hitting feats, drove all over a straight one from Brandes to see his stumps out of line. Jadeja bowled Brandes 32 off 58, India 176/7.

From that point on, the scramble was on. Robin Singh signalled his intentions with a spectacular six, hit with a flat bat off Brandes, the ball going just above head high from the moment of impact till it hit the ground some way behind the straight boundary. And Kumble wisely kept giving the strike to the senior partner, till Brandes again produced the straight, fast delivery to make a mess of the stumps. Kumble 4/8, India 204/8.

Salil Ankola loves to hit the ball, and he did it to good effect here, not finding the gaps but putting enough mileage on the ball to scramble twos and, on one occasion, pushing really hard to run a brilliant three off a shot hit hard to the midwicket sweeper. That was running right out of the top draw, and it began to look as if India would pull it off with a ball or three to spare when an impossible second run attempted four Ankola just out of his ground. Ankola run out 9/7, India 229/9.

By then, however, Ankola had added 25 runs with Robin Singh, who was batting with increasing brilliance at the other end, hitting with power and authority, running his legs off when the ball went to the fielder and authoring a classic one-day slog innings here. With Prasad coming out, India needed 8 runs with an over to go. A push and a scampered single reduced that to seven, an innovative pull through midwicket, Robin Singh going far across to the off side to make the stroke possible, brought that down further to three, and with just one ball to go, India needed two to win.

Brandes best bet, with the field set to stop the fours, was to bowl a full length on the stumps, because the yorker is the hardest ball to hit. In the event, the burly opening bowler, who had kept his cool exceedingly well till then, lost it at the crucial moment and, in trying to keep the ball out of Robin Singh's reach, bowled wide. That tied the score, and India had a ball more to face - so why Prasad came charging down the track from the non-striker's end is rather inexplicable. All he had to do was stay put, Robin had one more ball to face and even a single would have won the game.

Instead, Prasad, whose composure the pressure momentarily disrupted, came charging down as he saw the keeper make a mess of collecting the wide. Robin, seeing his partner three quarters of the way down, took off in his turn. Keeper Andy Flower kept his head and threw to the non-striker's end. And Robin Singh was run out, with one ball left of the allotted fifty overs, to bring about a cliffhanging tie. Robin Singh run out 48 off 31 with two fours and two sixes, India all out 236 in 49.5.

For Zimbabwe, Eddo Brandes (5/41 off 9.5) was the pick of the bowlers, Rennie very unimpressive with 17 taken off his three overs, Grant Whittall effective at containment (28 off 7), Heath Streak rather erratic and punished by Robin, Karim and Jadeja towards the end (52 off 10) and Craig Evans (1/48 off 10) and Paul Strang (1/38 off 10) very tidy in line and length. More than the bowling, Zimbabwe impressed with electric ground fielding and, unlike India, did not floor more than just one sharp chance.

The result leaves both teams tied on points with one apiece off two games thus far. But given that India lost all ten wickets to Zimbabwe's 8, and used one ball less, India is a shade behind on the net run rate - an additional factor for the Indians to think about.

The continuing poor run of skipper Sachin Tendulkar will be another area of concern, as also the inability of the Indian bowlers to bowl the last five, six overs tidily. If Prasad went for runs in the game against RSA, it was the normally economical Kumble who got stick at the end here. And the obvious option is to use Ganguly increasingly in the middle to ensure that all frontline bowlers have overs to spare at the end, so that if one is clobbered there is always another option. Why this hasn't occured to the think tank, now reinforced with a laptop, remains a mystery.

The Indians, though, do come away from the game with a couple of pluses. One is the continued form of Saba Karim, who as in the first game played a brisk little knock and gave the late middle order the impetus it has lacked in recent times. Karim is a busy cricketer, uses his feet superbly to spin and has the knack of using the pace of the faster bowlers against them in his search for quick runs. Add to it his lightning fast running between wickets, and India now finds itself with one good hand in the middle.

Robin Singh and Ajay Jadeja had, in the previous game, looked totally lost. Understandable, perhaps, given that they reached SA only towards the tail end of the third Test, and found themselves playing the first one-dayer without any practise at all. Today, both produced very good displays, and that in turn lends more heft to the Indian middle.

What this team needs to look at, then, is its regrettable tendency to lose Tendulkar early, and to get into needless panics in the middle. How well they tackle these problems remains to be seen, when India take on South Africa in its next game on February 2. However, ahead of that, there are two games between Zimbabwe and RSA on January 29 and 31 respectively, and if Zimbabwe manages an upset in either one of them, then the cat will really be among the pigeons.

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