Wednesday, Feb 04, 2004
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Cricket
By G. Viswanath
Irfan Pathan, who bagged four wickets to win the Man of the Match award, attempts to run out Blessing Mahwire. - Photo: V.V. Krishnan
PERTH, FEB. 3. The WACA pitch exposed the lack of skills of the specialist batsmen of the teams in the VB tri-series. The Indian batsmen made heavy weather of a small target in the last league match today. Thanks to V.V.S. Laxman's all-round display and Hemang Badani's calm and composed approach, especially after the run out of Rohan Gavaskar, India beat Zimbabwe by four wickets and maintained its undefeated record against it in the tournament. Both the teams employed a four-pronged seam attack. They generated extra bounce of the pitch. India's Amit Bhandari used this weapon consistently in his comeback match after nearly 40 months. It was the short ball he bowled in the last ball of the 18th over that invited Sean Ervine to hook into the hands of substiture fielder Murali Kartik. Bhandari was one of the success stories of the day along with Pathan, Balaji and Nehra. Ervine hammered Bhandari for four 4s, but he returned to scalp Andy Blignaut in his third spell. The fast improving Pathan was easily the pick of the Indian bowlers. Slanting his deliveries away and bringing it back, he accounted for the dismissals of Vusi Sibanda and Tatenda Taibu and sounded the alarm bells for Zimbabwe. His ally in the slip cordon was Laxman, who did not let any edge go down or pass him. India's catching was of the highest class, though Yuvraj Singh put down a difficult one at point. He made amends though with a direct hit that broke the threatening partnership between Stuart Carlisle and Ervine.
Laxman's fielding to the fore
When Laxman took his fourth catch off Pathan, he joined five other Indians — Sunil Gavaskar, Mohd. Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Kaif — who have taken four catches in a match. More importantly he took his tally to 12, the highest in the VB tri-series so far and is now placed along with Alan Border and Jeremy Coney who have held the one-day international record of 12 catches in a tournament for 15 years. After skittling out Zimbabwe for 135, India made a poor start. Sachin Tendulkar failed to negotiate a short ball and was dismissed. So did Virender Sehwag after flashing his bat for a handful of boundaries. Zimbabwe's captain surprised Tendulkar with a bouncer, who responded with an ill-timed shot and paid the price. Sehwag did not appear to be a man learning from past mistakes. Lucky to survive when Stuart Carlisle let a catch through is fingers high over his head, the right-hander chanced his arm in order to clear the long boundary. In the process he offered a straightforward catch to Stuart Matsikenyari. Rahul Dravid defended for a while before the extra bounce saw him direct the ball onto his stumps. Yuvraj Singh hooked the ball in the air and suddenly India was in the doldrums with only half the job done. India's batsmen suffered further body blows. Travis Friend struck Badani on the helmet and Laxman was bowled off his body, trying to hook Ervine. In the end India got the better of Zimbabwe surviving several heart-stopping moments. Laxman was dropped on 25 by Carlisle when India's total was 93 and Badani was dropped on 8 by Streak at point when the total was 89. Both were difficult chances Zimbabwe had to grab in order to win a match in the tournament. Streak took his 15 wickets in eight matches. For a change he got support from other bowlers, especially Friend who had not bowled a delivery in previous matches. Zimbabwe lost its eighth match in a row. India's captain Sourav Ganguly took a break and Zimbabwe had to leave out Grant Flower because of a finger injury. The rival captains, Dravid and Streak agreed that it was a tough pitch to bat on. "It takes time to get used to such wickets. Even batsmen with good technique find it difficult,'' said Dravid and Streak.
Scoreboard
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Sibanda), 2-1 (Taibu), 3-11 (Ebrahim), 4-74 (Carlisle), 5-79 (Ervine), 6-85 (Streak), 7-103 (Friend), 8-114 (Blignaut), 9-115 (Price). India bowling: Pathan 10-1-24-4, Balaji 10-1-32-1, Nehra 7-1-39-1, Bhandari 7.4-0-31-3.
Zimbabwe bowling: Streak 7-0-36-1, Blignaut 10-0-41-2, Ervine 8.3-2-29-2, Friend 5-0-24-0.
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