Losing by a whisker

It was a match India could ill-afford to lose having lost their opening match against South Africa. So when they won the toss and invited Zimbabwe to bat, it seemed the right thing to do. The ideal plan would have been to get the Zimbabweans cheaply and score the runs quickly to keep the net run rate healthy.

India seemed like it was doing just that as they kept chipping away at the wickets regularly. 1/12, 2/45, 3/87… India was always almost there when it came to pegging back the Zimbabweans. But the Zimbabwe batsmen always managed a small partnership. And once Andy Flower came to the crease, the small partnerships were being accomplished quickly too. As the runs started to leak, alarm bells went off but Flower was not perturbed. He put on 57 with brother Grant as the two trudged along towards 150.

Despite all their efforts, though, Zimbabwe should not have crossed 220. The second-highest score in their innings was courtesy Extras (51) that pushed their score as far high as 252. Srinath, Prasad and Kumble had all bowled well but between them, given away 15 extra deliveries. The biggest culprit, though, was Ajit Agarkar with five wides and 4 no-balls that ruined his figures and pushed them to 1/70 in 9 overs.

Nonetheless, 252 was not unachievable. India had the batting, Zimbabwe had a semblance of the bowling required to defend. And it seemed that India would indeed go on to win, although not as easily as expected. Eddo Brandes and Neil Johnson opened the bowling and although they picked up Ganguly early, they also cost far too many runs. In their 10 overs, India picked up 78 runs! That itself should have been enough to see India home, but the part-time bowlers pegged India back. Grank Flower cost only 33 in his 10 overs and also accounted for the wicket of top-scorer S Ramesh (55).

India had been docked four overs for a slow over rate but seemed to be getting close to their target nonetheless. Jadeja contributed 43, Robin Singh 35 and Extras 39! India was at 246/7 and needed seven runs to win off the last five balls of the match to be bowled by the erratic Henry Olonga.

With the target as small as it was and three wickets in hand, India was odds-on favourite but Olonga bowled four of the most accurate balls he had managed throughout the match. off the second ball of the over, he got Robin Singh and although three runs were scored off the next two balls, Olonga was not bothered. Off the penultimate ball of the match, he disturbed the furniture behind Srinath and India was in trouble. Needing four to win off the last ball, Prasad had no choice but to go for a heave and he missed the ball and was plumb in front.

India had lost from a position of power and by just 3 runs. Whatever pre-match plans were made had all come to nought. Worse still, this was India's second loss in as many matches and their entire campaign was starting to look shaky.

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Published on Mar 12, 2007