Zimbabwe found themselves on 260/6 at the close of play of the first day ofthe second Test, a situation that may have seemed a letdown during a prolificpartnership between Andy Flower and Dion Ebrahim but one that they would havesettled for when they started batting on a pitch holding much promise ofdegeneration.
The highlight of the day was a brilliant knock of 92 from Zimbabwe's mostreliable scorer - Flower - at a ground where, before this Test, he averaged morethan 200 - the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. Ebrahim, at the end of the day, wasstill fighting on with a hard-earned knock of 82; giving him company was TravisFriend on seven.
Advertisement
Earlier in the morning, the big news was that of VVS Laxman being dropped infavour of Virender Sehwag. Zimbabwe too made one change: Ebrahim coming in forGavin Rennie. Stuart Carlisle won the toss and did not hesitate to bat first ona track that has cracks running the length of it. The Zimbabwe skipper himselfdid not have much luck though; Javagal Srinath bowled him for a duck off thefourth ball of the morning.
The other opening batsman, Trevor Gripper (8), was out-thought by ZaheerKhan. After letting the batsman pull a short-pitched ball for four, he followedup with one that seamed away, and Gripper duly nicked it through to Rahul Dravidat first slip.
Advertisement
Zimbabwe were in dire straits at the time with just 11 runs on the board andtwo wickets down. The old firm of Flower and Alistair Campbell then proceeded toadd 54 runs for the third wicket, steadying the boat against some purposefulbowling by Zaheer Khan and Srinath.
Campbell (15) was caught by Rahul Dravid off the bowling of Zaheer Khan,brought on to bowl his second spell half an hour before lunch by skipper SouravGanguly. Ebrahim then joined Andy Flower, and the two batsmen went aboutrepairing the faltering Zimbabwean innings.
Flower, contrary to his displays in Nagpur, seemed in wonderful touch,striking the ball cleanly to all parts of the field. Going into this Test,Flower had an average of 104.60 against India. The more interesting statistic,though, was his record at the Feroz Shah Kotla. In four innings here before thestart of this Test, Flower had scores of 115, 62*, 183* and 70, averaging awhopping 215.
Today again he looked like getting to yet another century as he smashed 15boundaries and a massive six over mid-wicket off Anil Kumble before fallingeight runs short of the three-figure mark. He was caught bat-pad at forwardshort leg by Shiv Sunder das off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh after making 92runs off 154 balls.
The fourth-wicket partnership between Andy Flower and Ebrahim yielded 116valuable runs. Grant Flower replaced his brother in the middle and had an earlyreprieve; Deep Dasgupta missed an easy chance, letting the ball go right betweenhis legs after the younger Flower had edged a `doosra' from Harbhajan Singh.
Advertisement
Dasgupta, in fact, had a disastrous day in the field, and it would be verydifficult for this youngster to keep his place in the team as a wicket-keeper.Both Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh were palpably frustrated by Dasgupta'sdismal glove-work.
Grant Flower had made 30 runs and added 65 runs for the fifth wicket withEbrahim before he was run out by a direct hit from Kumble. Flower sacrificed hiswicket after Ebrahim called for a needless run; Kumble, fielding off his ownbowling, had all three stumps to aim at, and he did not miss, throwing down thestumps at the striker's end.
Advertisement
Heath Streak came in to bat and immediately dragged a ball from Kumble ontohis stumps without even opening his account. The dismissal of the formerZimbabwe skipper left the visitors in trouble at 246/6. Friend, as he showed atNagpur, is no mug with the bat, and he played on bravely against the double spinattack of Kumble and Harbhajan Singh to remain unbeaten on seven off 38 balls.
Zimbabwe will look to Ebrahim to carry on the good work tomorrow to put up adecent first-innings score. The hard-working diminutive batsman is unbeaten on82 off 183 balls and has so far struck nine boundaries. Ebrahim has looked atease especially against the spinners, using his feet to good effect.
Advertisement
As for India, Zaheer Khan was easily the pick of the bowlers with the figuresof 15-3-44-2. Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Srinath picked up one wicket each on atrack that is breaking up even on the first day.
