Dravid, Dighe rally Indians

Rahul Dravid and Samir Dighe pulled the Indians out of dire straits before they declared their first innings at a healthy 336 for nine on the first day of their tour-opening three-day cricket match against Zimbabwe 'A' in Mutare on Monday.

Dravid and Dighe added 227 runs for the sixth wicket, after the Indians had collapsed to 71 for five in the morning session.

Dravid played an aggressive innings of 137 while Dighe made a solid 87.

Zaheer Khan (14) and Harbhajan Singh (17) contributed some useful runs down the order before the Indians declared after 84.4 overs.

David Mutendera and Brian Murphy claimed three wickets each while Travis Friend scalped two.

Zimbabwe 'A' were 34 for one in reply at close, with Dion Ebrahim batting on 25 and Hamilton Masakadza unbeaten on 6.

In the morning, the Indian top-order failed to play to potential and it was left to Dravid and Dighe to repair the damage after the tourists were precariously placed at 91 for 5 at lunch.

The pair batted sensibly to see the Indians to 249 for 5 at tea. Dravid was in full flow, batting on 107, while Dighe was unbeaten on 67.

Sourav Ganguly called right and elected to bat at the Mutare Sports Club on a good batting track. After a sedate start, Ramesh got in the groove and struck three boundaries in his brief knock of 13 before Travis Friend got through his defences.

Das followed his opening partner to the dressing room in the next over, when he was caught off the bowling of Bryan Strang.

The in-form Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar were at the crease with the openers back in the hut for 23 runs. The duo seemed to be coasting fine before David Mutendera, the medium pacer from Midlands caught Sachin Tendulkar off his own bowling to leave the visitors tottering at 45/3.

The medium pacer further drilled holes in the middle order when he picked up Laxman and Ganguly in quick succession. Laxman had his furniture re-arranged while Friend dismissed the skipper taking a superb catch in the slips.

Mutendera, who has played a single Test against the Kiwis under the most controversial circumstances, was the star performer for the Zimbabwean ‘A’ side with three top-order scalps under his belt.

He made his debut against New Zealand in Bulawayo as a last-minute inclusion, which caused a serious problem among players and administrators with racial undertones.