Zimbabwe gives a vain fight
Wednesday, January 21 2004
Chasing India's 255-6, Zimbabwe came close to registering their first win in the VB series, but failed to finish the task falling 25 runs short, at the GABBA in Brisbane.
VB Series Game 6
India vs. Zimbabwe
The GABBA, Brisbane
20th January, 2004.
[Team changes: Parthiv Patel replaced Sachin Tendulkar, who is suffering from an ankle injury. This was the only change in the Indian team from the previous match. Zimbabwe made two changes, dropping Vusimusi Sibanda and Stuart Matsikenyeri, for Stuart Carlisle and Travis Friend.]
Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly won the toss, and despite overcast conditions at the start of play, elected to bat first. With Tendulkar indisposed, Patel joined Ganguly to open the innings. They got off to a reasonable start, taking the score to 41 in the 9th over. Patel looked very good to begin with scoring his first 18 runs a-run-a-ball. However, he went into some sort of a shell, which ultimately led to his demise for 19 when he tried to slog a Heath Streak delivery over mid-wicket, only ending up dragging it back on to the stumps.
VVS Laxman joined Ganguly at the score 41-1 after 9 overs. Both of them tried to put together a partnership, which was short-lived, as Ganguly soon followed Patel after scoring 33, the team score at 67-2. Laxman too didn't last long, when he unnecessarily chased a wide delivery, leaving India at 74-3, a very precarious stage.
Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Dravid stabilized the innings thence forth, putting together a century partnership with some slow, but thoughtful batting. They hit only 6 boundaries between them, but managed to sneak a lot of singles, and well as twos, ticking the score along. During this period, the Zimbabwean spinners Raymond Price and Grant Flower were bowling good spells, but couldn't manage to dismantle either of the two. Price was finally awarded though, when he picked up Yuvraj off the last bowl of his spell. Yuvraj made 69 off 76 deliveries.
This brought out Rohan Gavaskar, playing only his 2nd ODI. He scored a quick 22, hitting the only six of the innings. He was however clean bowled by Streak in the 2nd last over of the innings. Dravid too fell in the last over for a well made 84 off 106 deliveries. India managed to end up with 255-6 on a pitch, which definitely seemed to get slower as the match progressed.
For Zimbabwe, Streak was his usual consistent self, not giving much away and picking up 48-2. Sean Ervine took the most wickets, finishing with a respectable 47-3.
Zimbabwe didn't get off to the best of starts, the first two overs being maiden. Slowly but surely Flower and Mark Vernuelen tried to build up a foundation. However, Vermuelen got hit by a Irfan Pathan bouncer, right above the right eye. He immediately went of the field, and was later diagnosed with a fractured skull. He will need a surgery, a second on the skull during a period of 12 months, ruling him out of the remainer of the VB series.
Travis Friend, playing his first match of the series came out next. He however couldn't get going, ending up with only 7 runs, when Ganguly ran him out with a direct hit. The score was at 66-1 in the 16th, still fairly reasonable. However, this was followed by a mini-collapse, when Flower having done all the hard work fell for 36, Blignaut for 1 and Streak for 3. Zimbabwe looked in a lot of trouble at 81-4 in 22 overs.
Young wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu along with Carlisle tried to resurrect the innings, but after a brief partnership of some sorts, both fell in quick succession leaving the score at 148-6 in the 37th over. Carlisle scored a patient 34 off 61 deliveries, and fell to what can be called a lucky dismissal for Ganguly. Patel seemed to have dropped the catch, only to see it get lodged in his pad.
Sean Ervine and Dion Ebrahim realising the need for quick runs put together a 49 run partnership off 40 balls. Ervine was the first to go when he held out to Ganguly off Balaji for 39 off only 27 delieveries. Price was next in, and together with Ebrahim, he put up a quick fire 35 run partnership off only 20 balls, giving India a scare. However, the partnership ended when Ebrahim hit a full-toss from Pathan to Ganguly. Zimbabwe still needed 25 off 3 overs. But the very first ball of the 48th over resulted in the run-out of Douglas Hondo, bringing the innings to an end.
For India, Balaji picked up 2 wickets, while skipper Ganguly who bowled the full quota of the 5th bowler himself, picked up 3 scalps.
Zimbabwe did put on a late fight, but couldn't quite finish the task. However, they did manage to secure a point from this match, by not conceding a bonus point to India. Yuvraj Singh was awarded the Man of the Match for his knock of 69.
Brief Scorecard:
India: 255-6 in 50 overs.
Rahul Dravid 84(106)
Yuvraj Singh 69(76)
Heath Streak 48-2(10)
Sean Ervine 47-3(10)
Zimbabwe: 231 all out in 47.1 overs.
Sean Ervine 39(27)
Dion Ebrahim 39(30)
Lakshmipathy Balaji 37-2(9.1)
Saurav Ganguly 55-3(10)
Man of the Match: Yuvraj Singh (Ind)
Points: India 5, Zimbabwe 1
Posted by Sudeep
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