India Sign Off With A Flourish

One has a penchant for tall scores in domestic contests. The other has made aname for himself as a ferocious batsman who revels in hitting the cover off theball to the point of driving bowlers to desperation. Dinesh Mongia and YuvrajSingh's styles meshed perfectly and took India to a mammoth 333 for six in 50overs, practically batting Zimbabwe out of the fifth and final one-dayer atGuwahati. Triumph by 101 runs followed as Zimbabwe wilted under the pressure ofhaving to chase the huge score.

All things considered, it must be said that the match was taken far away fromthe visitors at the end of the Indian innings. Sure, cricket is a funny game andall that, but it is not that side-splittingly humourous. India had the bettermeasure of a wicket that was on the slower side, had the superior firepower, andthey held their collective nerve better on the big day.

Getting used to the pace of the track, Mongia was content working the ballwell into the gaps, chipping away efficiently. Using the angled bat to greateffect, Mongia provided a superb display of common-sense cricket.

Earlier in the innings, however, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman both fellcheaply. Rahul Dravid (26), who was clean-bowled by Douglas Hondo, and MohammadKaif (5) also failed to get going. India were then in a spot of bother at 157/4in the 31st over, and there was a chance that the scoring rate would dip andpressure would build.

In the form he is in, however, it seems difficult to put pressure on YuvrajSingh. The young left-hander, in sublime nick, got going from the very firstball. Punching through the covers with great placement and timing, Yuvraj sentthe ball scurrying across the turf to the fence. Punjab teammate Mongia enjoyedthe fireworks, and the pressure to score quickly lifted.

Zimbabwe's slow-medium bowlers struggled in the face of an all-out assault.Full tosses popped up with alarming regularity, and Yuvraj Singh nonchalantlyclattered them away into the stands. There was almost no need for innovation aspowerful drives had just enough zip to beat fielders who were scattered, jaded,and mostly reduced to spectators.

The last 10 overs of the Indian innings provided the kind of power hittingthat makes the shoulders of the opposition sag. A mammoth 121 runs came in thatperiod, and came rather freely. Gary Brent, who replaced the injured PommieMbangwa, took the brunt of the punishment, returning figures of 9-0-74-0.

Yuvraj's entertaining knock came to an end abruptly in the 49th over when hehit Douglas Marillier straight to Travis Friend at long on. Most captains,however, would have been pleased with Yuvraj's contribution - a sparkling 75 injust 52 balls with six fours and three sixes.

Mongia then set his sights firmly on a century and achieved the task withease - and then some. Although it took him 121 balls and 11 boundaries to reachthree figures, Mongia's foot seemed to be glued to the accelerator thereafter.

Making room on the legside and slicing the ball through point with disdain,hitting back over the bowler's head with power and placement, Mongia reached amammoth 159 (147 balls, 17 fours, 1 six) as India amassed 333/6.

Then came the Zimbabwean reply. What would it take? A long, steady hand fromAlistair Campbell at the top of the innings? A blinder of a ton from AndyFlower? Some late heroics from the unorthodox Dougie Marillier? All of theabove, perhaps, but none were forthcoming.

As if chasing 334 for victory in a series decider were not difficult enough,match referee John Reid docked Zimbabwe two overs for not completing their quotaof 50 in the allotted time.

A series of token contributions from the top order - Campbell (31), DionEbrahim (42), Travis Friend (31) - suggested that the Zimbabwe team were notabout to keel over in a hurry. But the fact that none of the visitors made it toeven the half-century mark made it nigh on impossible to put up a serious chase.

Grant Flower, with a valiant 48 (47 balls, 6 fours), helped keep thevisitors' hopes alive before he became Zaheer Khan's first victim late in theorder. Two balls later, a similar inswinging yorker took out the dangerousMarillier before he could get off the mark.

Tatenda Taibu too fell for a duck, being run out just before the inningsended. Gary Brent, who was punished earlier in the day, was the last wicket tofall, reverse-sweeping Harbhajan Singh to short third man. With 4/33 from 9.1overs, Harbhajan Singh was easily the most successful bowler on the day. ZaheerKhan with 3/29 was not far behind.

The joy and relief on the faces of the Indian players was there for all tosee when the game ended. Dinesh Mongia expectedly walked away with the Man ofthe Match and Man of the Series awards, and the youngster was all smiles.Success has come quite early for the hard-working Mongia, buth he should not gettoo carried away quite yet.

Funnily enough, a member of today's team, Vijay Bharadwaj, was the Man of theSeries in his first-ever series - the LG Cup in Nairobi - only to be left out ofthe Indian team for some time to come. The youngsters of this Indian team thusneed to keep their eyes keenly focussed on the World Cup that is now less than ayear away.

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