Tame draw to Zimbabwe 'A' match

The Indian cricket team's first engagement in Zimbabwe produced a lacklustre performance from the visitors, especially their batsmen, as the three-day match against Zimbabwe 'A' ended in a tame draw at the Mutare Sports Club grounds on Wednesday.

After skittling out the hosts for 175 runs to take a 161-run first innings lead on the third and final day, the Indian batsmen fared poorly in the second innings, scoring 150 for seven in 46 overs before the match ended.

Like in the first innings, the bulk of the scoring was done by two batsmen. This time by Sachin Tendulkar and V V S Laxman made 33 each. The rest of the team caved in to the home side's pace attack.

First innings centurion Rahul Dravid preferred not to bat while Sameer Dighe, who had added 227 runs with the Indian vice-captain in making 87 in the first innings, was out for 10.

The bowlers had better practice with Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh claiming three wickets each as the hosts collapsed from 134 for two to 175 all out.

The medium pacers though need to keep a check on the extras. They bowled as many as 14 no-balls on the concluding day, Wednesday.

However, captain Sourav Ganguly and coach John Wright expressed satisfaction over the team's showing.

"I would have loved to have one more day," Ganguly said. "But I think we made the best use of the facility available."

The entire second day's play on Tuesday was washed out by rain.

Earlier, after Khan and Harhajan rocked the home side in the pre-lunch session, grabbing three wickets each, Nehra completed the demolition shortly after lunch by claiming the wickets of B Strang and D Mutendera.

The Indians struck in quick succession towards the end of the first session to reduce Zimbabwe 'A' to 143 for seven at lunch.

Resuming at 34 for one, in reply to the Indians' 336 for nine declared after rain washed off the entire second day on Tuesday, the hosts were going steady at 134 for two before Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh effected a dramatic collapse, dismissing five batsmen within a space of nine runs.

Zaheer Khan (3/41) and Harbhajan Singh (2/12) bowled a devastating line and constantly troubled the batsmen. Zaheer forced two important breakthroughs by having the stubborn opener Dion Ebrahim caught by Sachin Tendulkar for 46, and then got Craig Wishart caught behind by Sameer Dighe for 68.

The lunch break was taken at the dismissal of Tetindu Taibu for one. Travis Friend was yet to open his account.

The hosts started on a relaxed note and were unfazed by the loss of Hamilton Masakadza (8) to Ashish Nehra. They scored comfortably and looked hardly troubled by the Indian bowlers.

Ebrahim, a plodder by nature, showed excellent temperament and did not touch any ball outside the off-stump to the frustration of the medium-pacers. He added 97 runs for the third wicket with Wishart before being dismissed by Zaheer Khan with the total reading 134.

Wishart made the most of some short-pitched bowling by Debashis Mohanty and Nehra, pulling them both with increasing frequency. He welcomed Harbhajan Singh with a straight six in the off-spinner's very first over.

However, he could not remain for long after the dismissal of Ebrahim and became a part of the collapse, edging an outgoing delivery from Zaheer Khan to Dighe. His 68 came from 85 balls and contained 13 fours and a six.

Craig Evans (0), Dirk Viljoen (5), and Taibu were out in quick succession and the Zimbabwean side were left 193 runs short of the Indian total with just three wickets remaining.

Scoreboard
Indians (1st innings):
S.Das c Taibu b Strang 4
S.Ramesh b Friend 13
V.Laxman b Mutendera 24
S.Tendulkar c and b Mutendera 11
S.Ganguly c Friend b Mutendera 12
R.Dravid c Friend b Murphy 137
S.Dighe lbw b Murphy 87
Z.Khan c Tibu b Murphy 14
H.Singh c Taibu b Friend 17
A.Nehra not out 0
Extras (lb-6, w-3, nb-8) 17
Total (for 9 wickets decl. in 84.3 overs) 336
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-23, 3-45, 4-62, 5-71, 6-296, 7-309, 8-332, 9-336
Did not bat: D.Mohanty
Bowling: Strang 15-3-43-1 (nb-1), Friend 21.3-6-70-2 (nb-3, w-1) Mutendera 16-2-69-3, Evans 2-0-9-0 (w-2), Murphy 18-1-75-3 (nb-2), Viljoen 10-0-53-0, Rennie 2-0-10-0

Zimbabwe A (1st innings):
D.Ebrahim c Tendulkar b Khan 46
G.Rennie c Dighe b Mohanty 1
H.Masakadza c Dravid b Nehra 8
C.Wishart c Dighe b Khan 68
C.Evans b Khan 0
D.Viljoen lbw b Singh 5
T.Taibu c Das b Singh 1
T.Friend b Singh 4
B.Murphy not out 9
B.Strang c Tendulkar b Nehra 0
D.Mutendera c Tendulkar b Nehra 13
Extras: (lb-6, nb-14) 20
Total (all out in 54.4 overs) 175
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-37, 3-134, 4-134, 5-139, 6-139, 7-143, 8-149, 9-153, 10-175
Bowling: Khan 15-3-41-3, Mohanty 12-3-34-1 (nb-3), Nehra 12.4-1-41-3 (nb-11), Singh 11-3-25-3, Ganguly 4-0-26-0

Indians (2nd innings):
S S Das lbw Strang 12
S Ramesh c Ebrahim b Friend 6
V V S Laxman c Wishart b Mutendara 33
S Tendulkar c Viljoen b Mutendara 33
S Ganguly lbw b Friend 17
S Dighe b Friend 10
Z Khan run out 1
Harbhajan Singh not out 25
A Nehra not out 5
Extras (nb-8) 8
Total (for 7 wkts in 46 overs) 150
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-22, 3-80, 4-91, 5-117, 6-118, 7-118
Bowling: B Strang 6-2-20-1, T Friend 12-4-30-3, D Mutendera 9-2-31-2, B Murphy 14-2-58-0, C Evans 2-0-8-0, C Wishart 1-0-3-0.

Mail Cricket Editor