Zimbabwe probably forfeited their place in the Coca Cola Cup finalwhen they lost to India by four wickets at the Queen’s Sports Club inBulawayo on Wednesday
John Ward27-Jun-2001Zimbabwe probably forfeited their place in the Coca Cola Cup finalwhen they lost to India by four wickets at the Queen’s Sports Club inBulawayo on Wednesday. They put up a spirited fight against a ratherbelow-par Indian team, but luck was definitely against them on thisday.First, they suffered a serious body blow with the withdrawal ofcaptain Heath Streak due to an abdominal strain. For the thirdsuccessive match, Zimbabwe had a different captain. Guy Whittall tookover the reins for the first time but the home team were without theirtwo world-class players as Andy Flower is still injured. India, fortheir part, were without the injured VVS Laxman.Cricket did its usual job of attracting the rain overnight, andalthough the morning dawned clear, the start of the match was delayedfor 15 minutes to ensure that parts of the field had dried out.Although the pitch was hard and firm, it had quite a bit of grass andwas slightly damp on top, so once again it was a very important tossto win.And once again the inflexible rule stands: if the toss is important,Zimbabwe will lose it. Sourav Ganguly had no hesitation in puttingZimbabwe in to bat again.Zimbabwe lost Campbell (2) almost immediately, driving Zaheer Khanstraight to mid-off without employing any footwork. In the same overStuart Carlisle (0) played back to a superb full-length delivery thatcut back sharply and trapped him lbw. At 7 for two, it looked like thesame old story for Zimbabwe. Khan’s wickets, though, came off raregood balls in an erratic spell that conceded a number of extras.Ashish Nehra was similarly profligate.The first four only came in the tenth over, when Craig Wishart crackedKhan past mid-off. Dion Ebrahim, though far from fluent, hung on andsurvived three chances, two difficult and one a simple return catch toAjit Agarkar, before reaching double figures. Gradually he found histouch, and he and Wishart produced a splendid fighting partnership forZimbabwe.Wishart (46) spoilt a fine innings with a tame catch to mid-off offGanguly to make Zimbabwe 94 for three. The 100 came up in the 28thover, but Ebrahim (42) fell soon afterwards, lbw hitting across theline to Khan, who was reaping unexpected dividends from erraticbowling. He finished with rather flattering figures of four for 43.With the end of the innings in sight, Grant Flower and Whittallstruggled to keep the score moving at an acceptable rate. Khan struckagain to have Flower (45) caught at mid-off just as they were comingto terms with their task. Andy Blignaut hit 11 off nine balls beforebeing well caught at long-on by Harbhajan Singh off Agarkar from ahuge skier, while Whittall ran to his fifty off 52 balls.As many as 85 runs came in the final ten overs. Whittall finished on58 and Zimbabwe ended with the fighting total of 234 for six. Indiahad caused to be disappointed with the inability of their bowlers toexploit the conditions – 28 extras were conceded – but against anattack without Streak they were still considered favourites.India began slowly, but in Blignaut’s third over Ganguly unleashed twohandsome drives for four, one through the covers and the otherstraight. It was not until the tenth over, though, that he reacheddouble figures for the first time in an international match on thistour. Tendulkar (9) fell first this time, caught low in the covers offStrang when playing an uppish drive; he seemed strangely out of touchon this occasion.Strang, ignored by the selectors until Streak’s temporary resignationled to a change in policy, was to keep the Indians quiet with anopening spell of eight overs for 16 runs, but none of the otherbowlers was able to exert similar pressure. Zimbabwe fieldedheroically but were unable to stem the tide as India accelerated. ThenMongia (37) swung David Mutendera to square leg and was superbly takenby Whittall; India were 91 for two in the 26th over.Ganguly reached his fifty by hammering Whittall for a four to long-onand then swung him over midwicket for six. Rahul Dravid too battedaggressively against bowlers not consistent enough to drag them out oftheir comfort zone, and this pair steadily took Zimbabwe out of thegame. The end appeared to be in sight when Ganguly (85) was caught onthe midwicket boundary off Flower for an innings that to him must havebeen like a welcome downpour after a drought. In the same over HemangBadani was bowled by the first ball he faced.Dravid reached 50 off 44 balls, whereupon Flower had Shewag (2) caughtat long leg and then caught and bowled Sameer Dighe for 9. India were210 for six in the 46th over and a good finish was still possible. Butwithout Streak, Zimbabwe had no strike bowler and Dravid (72 not out)took them home comfortably with four balls to spare, aided by somelusty blows from Agarkar (13 not out). Flower’s four for 44 was hisbest one-day return.