India coasted to a 39-run victory at the RMCCG ground in Rajkot toclose out the one-day series against Zimbabwe by four games to one
Sankhya Krishnan14-Dec-2000India coasted to a 39-run victory at the RMCCG ground in Rajkot toclose out the one-day series against Zimbabwe by four games to one.They owed the win largely to the frail looking Ajit Agarkar who looksready and capable to ensconce himself into the role of the all rounderIndia does not have. After a splendid 102 run stand in just 99 ballsbetween Hemang Badani and Reetinder Sodhi strengthened the edifice ofthe Indian innings, Agarkar produced a spectacular late blitz of 67 in25 balls that lifted India to a once unthinkable 301. Despite earningthe springboard of a rollicking start, the visitors sputtered in themiddle overs and the loss of Trevor Madondo and Grant Flower insuccessive overs signalled the end of the road for them.The younger members of the Indian team also stepped up a notch andindicated they were quite capable of standing the heat at this level.After the early exits of the two senior batsmen in the team, Badaniwas the stabilising influence in the middle order that affordedAgarkar the luxury of going for broke in the end. Skipper Rahul Dravidsaid it was a fantastic feeling to post a win in his first match ascaptain. The depth in the Indian bowling also provided for a plethoraof options as Dravid said. “We were just discussing that we had tenguys in the side who could bowl, other than the keeper, and I thoughtSriram and Shewag did a very good job in the middle overs”.Alistair Campbell had begun with a flurry of attacking shots which wasnothing new but as usual, to the frustration of his team-mates, hefailed to convert that start into anything like a substantial score.Campbell presented Reetinder Sodhi, given custody of the new ball inZaheer Khan’s absence, with his first ODI scalp. His partner TrevorMadondo was in ominous touch and it certainly baffles the imaginationwhy Zimbabwe tarried till the end of the tour to give him a stage toannounce his undoubted ability. Madondo generated plenty of power offhis strokes which came all around the wicket as the Zimbabwe fiftycame up in just 6.2 overs. He shrugged off the loss of a secondpartner in Gavin Rennie and greeted the first appearance of spin inthe form of Aashish Kapoor by smacking a four over cover, wasting notime in getting acquainted with the bowler’s craft.An Andy Flower reverse sweep that beat a very square short finelegstationed to cut off the very stroke brought up the hundred in the14th over, a good 11 overs earlier than India took to reach thecorresponding milestone. Agarkar was working up a good burst of paceto keep the batsmen on their toes after the gentle medium pace of theopening pair of Prasad and Sodhi. At 103, Zimbabwe suffered whatseemed to be an irreconcilable blow as Andy Flower flicked Agarkarinto the waiting hands of Sodhi at square leg. Madondo refused to letthat be a dampener on his belligerence, and before long had sweptKapoor for a boundary, that fetched him a half century in 40 balls.Grant Flower joined him in a battling partnership that formed the mainrepository of Zimbabwe’s hopes as they proceeded to 146 at the halfwaystage with the asking rate still at manageable proportions.The specialist spinner Aashish Kapoor had gone wicket less in sevenovers but the back-up, comprising of Sridharan Sriram and VirenderShewag, did a fine job under the circumstances. Having made 71 (70balls), Madondo was deceived in flight by Sriram as he stepped out todrive and played inside the line to have his stumps rattled. WhenShewag trapped Grant Flower leg before on the back foot in thefollowing over – his first – Zimbabwe had lost the plot at 156/5 inthe 28th over. They did have two specialist batsmen left in GuyWhittall and Dougie Marillier but on past record on this tour neitherinspired a particular sense of confidence.Whittall disappointed again, holing out to deep midwicket off Shewagand the asking rate soon spiralled out of reach. Marillier struck afew audacious blows in the course of a swift 38 (42 balls) and thetail never gave up hope but the target remained tantalisingly out ofreach. Even after the 47th over, Zimbabwe were ahead of India at thecorresponding stage, which put the value of the late surge spearheadedby Agarkar in perspective. Having added three wickets to his kitty, hewas the undisputed Man of the Match.In the morning, a brilliant opening spell by Heath Streak, taking thenew ball for the first time in the series, put India firmly on thedefensive from the start. Bowling a relentless off stump line and athree quarter length or thereabouts, he challenged the batsmen toforce him away at their own peril. Given the rare opportunity to batout the full 50 overs, Sridharan Sriram squandered it with impunity.Drawn irresistibly into a ball angled well wide of him, the resultingnick was gobbled by Andy Flower. In six ODI’s, the lefthander is stillto reach double figures, a result not so much deriving from anydeficiency in technique but rather an inability to curb his naturalinstincts.The tight bowling from Streak frustrated skipper Dravid to play a shotout of character and trying to go over the infield, he failed to gethold of the ball and holed out to midoff. Sachin Tendulkar had foundthe pickets at easy intervals and was quick to pounce on any errors inline and length, almost entirely from Strang. One sensed however thathe was exercising all his powers of self-control to guard against afalse shot and open up a middle order that had hitherto promised morethan it had delivered. When Streak took himself off after a tightfirst spell, it just might have been lulled Tendulkar intoindiscretion as he dragged a widish delivery from Mluleki Nkala ontohis stumps.That left India in disarray at 42/3 and although Yuvraj Singh andVirender Shewag both played some delightful shots in their briefappearances in the middle, they did not help the cause by gettingdismissed at inopportune moments. Yuvraj started in blistering fashionwith boundaries off his first two balls off Nkala whom he continued tosingle out for attention, a pull to the midwicket fence beingsingularly contemptuous. The innings was just blossoming when it wassnuffed out by umpire Saheba, making his ODI debut, who gave him legbefore when he seemed to be playing enough forward to induce areasonable doubt in onlooker’s minds.Virender Shewag is another who is built very much in the cavaliermould and there was murder in his eye as he danced down the wicket andcleared Murphy over the straight boundary. Something had to give inthis confrontation and as it turned out, it was the batsman whoblinked first, being caught behind by Andy Flower at 114 in the 27thover. Badani was the guiding light of the innings, allowing for thestrokemakers to blaze away, and then perish, at the other end, whilehe himself carved the ball into the gaps, accumulating the runs withstealth. His half century contained just one boundary – a six in factoff Murphy that thudded into the sight screen at the pavilion end -and there wasn’t an element of extravagance in his stroke play, justlevel-headedness taken to an extreme.Sodhi also blossomed into his own after an unsteady start, aneffortless six over long on off Bryan Strang, being the acme of hisrepertoire after which his confidence started flowing back. He washowever overshadowed by Agarkar who tucked into some loose bowlingwith gusto. Agarkar’s bread and butter strokes were the inside outshot over cover and the lofted heave to deep midwicket as he hurriedto a fifty off just 21 balls. The last five overs produced 73 with allthe bowlers including Streak being severely punished. Dropped early inhis knock by Brian Murphy at point, Agarkar finished off the inningswith two sixes in two balls off Alistair Campbell who was invited tobowl the 50th over by a rattled Heath Streak. The unbroken seventhwicket stand was worth 85 in 39 balls, Agarkar’s share being 67 off25. Sodhi who was already on 39 when his partner joined him, finishedon a comparatively sedate 53 in 67 balls. “The situation was quitesimple. I just had to go out and hit. Today I connected everything”,said Agarkar. A precociously talented batsman as a schoolboy, who oncehit a triple century in Mumbai’s Giles Shield, Agarkar seems to haverediscovered the flair he lost along the way. Combined with his skillwith the old ball, he was simply the revelation of the series.