Sourav Ganguly has been looking forward to this day for the last 28 months.That elusive Test hundred finally came about on a murky afternoon at the FerozShah Kotla in Delhi on the third day of the second Test match against Zimbabwe.The century hopefully marks the beginning of the end of the wretched form thatGanguly has been carrying with him in Test cricket for a long time now. He wasstill going strong at stumps on 135 off 279 balls, punctuating his knock with 21fours and a six.
There was not much cricket played today at the Kotla as the sun kept playinghide and seek behind dark clouds. There was a shower in the morning to startwith, and the occasional drizzle kept playing spoilsport for the best part ofthe day. In the 47 overs of play possible today, India scored 148 runs, losingthe wickets of Virender Sehwag and Sanjay Bangar.
Advertisement
If it was Ganguly's day to celebrate, the crowd also had enough to cheerabout as local hero Sehwag went about smashing the bowling regardless of thefrequent stoppages. As yesterday, he targeted Ray Price, the most successful ofZimbabwe's bowlers at Nagpur. The left-arm spinner was not given enough time tosettle into a good rhythm as Tendulkar allowed him to do the previous evening.
The wristy shots through mid-wicket, the powerful off-drives, and thecaressing drive through covers were all a treat to watch at the Kotla. As amatter of fact, Sehwag took nine fours off Price. He did not spare the fasterbowlers either; Streak too suffered through merciless hitting. In the meanwhile,Ganguly reached his hundred off the very last ball before the tea interval,pulling one from Streak to the fine-leg fence.
Advertisement
In the very first over after the tea break, bowled by Travis Friend, Sehwagstruck a couple of boundaries to send out a clear message of getting on with thejob at hand. If Sehwag has a weakness, though, it is the ball that leaves himoutside the off. When Streak got it right once, Sehwag flashed at it, but theresultant edge was put down by Andy Flower at first slip. The very next ball wascleverly bowled - getting it to move back in off the seam and hitting Sehwag onthe pads, well in line with the stumps. Umpire Jayaprakash did not hesitate toput the finger up. Sehwag made 74 brilliant runs off 118 balls, striking 16boundaries and emphasising his value in the middle order.
Bangar came in and played a delicate shot to third-man for four. That was allhe could make, as he became the second batsman to be dismissed by Ganguly'sreluctant running. Carlisle's throw from covers to Taibu was a bit too quick forBangar, who was trying to get back to his crease. India were 280/6 at thatstage.
Streak (2/82) bowled well today without much luck. The final phase of today'splay saw some dour defensive batting by Kumble. No running between wickets wasto be seen as Kumble took much of the strike, leaving the in-form Ganguly aspectator at the non-striking end for the best part. India still trails by 10runs and will be looking forward to building up a lead tomorrow.
