Uphill Task For Zimbabwe

A statistics student with an interest in demography could have taken it on asa case study. What percentage of Nagpur-ites, with India in a strong positionand Sachin Tendulkar undoubtedly looking for quick runs on a Sunday morning,cancelled plans of going boating or amateur orange picking and instead packedpicnic lunches before making a beeline for the Vidarbha Cricket Associationstadium?

A less exhaustive prospect for research would be to ask what percentage ofthe stadium crowd was disappointed that Sanjay Bangar acted as understudy forTendulkar on the fourth morning. After three days of batsmen grinding out runsreluctantly, Bangar's stroke-play could not have been more welcomed thanfive-star A-grade manna to a famished Moses.

Tendulkar scored only 39 runs on the day, and it is not often that hecontributes as many out of a stand of 110. More credit, then, to a man whoseselection ahead of Virender Sehwag expended much newsprint across the country.Fresh from a double century on the domestic circuit, Bangar made his maiden Testhundred in only his second match, batting with a quietude that many hardenedveterans would find tough to match.

The century almost did not come, however, as India lost both Tendulkar (176,316b, 23x4) and Zaheer Khan (0, 2b) with the score on 547, Ray Price scalpingthe little master to get his second five-wicket haul in Tests. Anil Kumble,however, hung around for 15 balls and added 13 runs, enabling Bangar to get tothree figures. Sourav Ganguly declared on 570/7 as soon as Bangar hit his 100thrun off his 155th ball; his knock featured 12 boundaries, many of them justchipped cleverly over the infield, and two sixes.

Zimbabwe faced a deficit of 283 runs, a situation that shut out any thoughtsof victory from their minds. Their openers, then, played accordingly; StuartCarlisle, in fact, looked positively dashing in comparison to Trevor Gripper,who seemed to have decided that it was time for all stolid men to come to theaid of the party. Carlisle's innings, however, ended just after lunch when aZaheer Khan delivery pitched outside leg and rapped him on the pads. UmpireVenkataraghavan upheld the loud appeal, and India had gotten rid of theirfirst-innings thorn in the side.

Gripper and Alistair Campbell almost saw their side through to tea safely,Campbell in particular looking comfortable against spin and rapidly outpacinghis companion. In the last over before tea, however, he failed to get to thepitch of a Kumble delivery; the ball struck the shoulder of his bat and VVSLaxman completed an easy catch at first slip.

Andy Flower's tenure at the crease in the second innings was less momentarythat the first, but he always looked shaky and vulnerable, his confidence dentedby his recent lean patch. His dismissal loomed not too far on the horizon, andwhen he was caught by Rahul Dravid at short leg off Kumble, he had made 8 off41.

With Gripper still propping up one end, Gavin Rennie played with some elan,pulling out the sweep shot to good effect against Kumble and Tendulkar. Hestruck three fours, all swept to square leg or mid-wicket, and rotated thestrike nicely otherwise. But just when it looked like the pair would walk outthe next morning unscathed, Kumble struck again, having Rennie caught bysubstitute Virender Sehwag at short leg.

India could not get rid of night-watchman Price before the close of play,even though Ganguly stationed, at one point, seven men around the bat. Orperhaps he reasoned that close-in fielders had a chance of taking any catchesthat Deep Dasgupta grassed; three chances went down today behind the stumps.

Zimbabwe start the final day precariously perched on 152/4. They can stillpull off a draw in this match, and that will be a creditable achievement indeed.Gripper looks in the mood to bat implacably for another day, and Price, GrantFlower, Heath Streak and Travis Friend can hardly be called mugs with the bat.But India hold two aces Kumble and the unlucky Harbhajan on a pitch that isincreasingly lending itself to turn.

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