Harbhajan bowls Indians to win

By Vijay Lokapally

HARARE, JUNE 4.Not one spectator turned up at the Country Club on Monday. There was nothing to attract them to the ground and the cricketers too had little inspiration to enliven the drab proceedings. They just went through the motions even though the Indians managed to win the contest by 226 runs.

The Indians had a few experiments to carry out in this match, the last fixture before the team launches itself into some serious cricket. The composition of the team for the first Test starting on Thursday was high on the agenda and this match provided enough data for the team management. The six-wicket haul by Harbhajan Singh today and the three-wicket strike in one spell by Javagal Srinath being encouraging.

The move to promote Hemang Badani in the order led to some speculation on the opener's slot. The Tamil Nadu left- hander's form has been rousing and he left the scene with an impressive performance backing his claims for the opening Test.

The CFX Academy may not have been a formidable opposition but then the Indians had to make the most of this match. It was obviously an ill-planned encounter because the team management would have preferred a stiffer contest in the run up to the first Test.

There was this fear of a sense of complacency creeping in their game even though the Indians claimed they had their focus in the right place. Those not involved in this match had kept themselves busy in the well-equipped gymnasium. For Sachin Tendulkar, the last two days were spent in the `nets', bowling to the likes of Debasis Mohanty and Ashish Nehra, trying to sort out a few batting problems for them. Today, even Tendulkar stayed indoors before coming to field in the afternoon. Everyone waited for the match to get over.

The calm of the serene surroundings was disturbed quite frequently by the cacophony of the Indians appealing for a catch or a leg-before. On one occasion, they managed to convince the umpire and won a decision too.

To press for a win or not was the question in skipper Sourav Ganguly's mind. He decided to give his batsmen two hours in the morning to try and boost their averages before leaving the stage to the bowlers to exploit.

Badani and Ramesh belted the ball around before each retired out. They played some outstanding shots entertain the Indian dressing room and at one point Badani was given the challenge of slaming at last one six an over. He hoisted left-arm spinner Ian Coulson for a straight six and left the field unconquered to allow the Indian tail time to test its batting skills.

Ramesh too had batted himself into a confident zone before the Test match after the two unconvincing knocks at Mutare. A couple of cover-drives which hit the fence in a flash showed the batsman's ability to time the strokes. Ganguly and coach John Wright would have been pleased with Ramesh's effort but the last word on India's opening pair for the Test has not yet been heard.

The bowlers took upon the task of trying to force a win in the 66 overs that they had at their disposal. It was not that the pitch had nothing to offer to the bowlers but the effort was wasted in the absence of a disciplined line.

Srinath was a keen man. He had talked of a win and was indeed in a mood to set an example as he made some early dents but there was no support from Agarkar, who was a disappointment in this match. Zaheer Khan too was awry and the game drifted in the afternoon, what with Harbhajan and Sairaj Bahutule bowling far below their potential. It was only in the last session that the spinners struck a naggling line and length to stifle the opposition into submission.

Mluleki Nkala and Barney Rogers were the pick of the Academy batsmen. The grooming was evident in the manner in which Rogers put up a dogged front, playing the ball on merit and showing the temperament suited to play in the big league. He did capitalise on the loose balls to hit a few delightful shots in his unbeaten 65 off 122 balls with eight fours. Nkala was equally quick to pounce on the bad balls and hit eight fours in his innings worth 88 balls which ended with a top-edge from a sweep.

After Srinath removed Dion Ibrahim, Terrence Duffin and Guy Croxford in that order in a telling spell of 7-3-9-3, the pair of Rogers and Nkala added 102 runs for the fourth wicket, the best phase for the Academy lads in this match. The dismissal of Nkala triggered off a collapse as Sean Irvine, Gary Brent and Campbell McMillan fell in a heap, leaving the tail exposed to the Indian spinners, the victory coming with 13 overs still left.

The scores:

Indians-1st innings : 447 (for four decl.)

CFX Academy XI-1st innings : 192.

Indians-2nd innings : Hemang Badani (retired out) 35, S. Ramesh (retired out) 52, Sameer Dighe lbw b Irvine 6, Harbhajan Singh c Ibrahim b Rogers 16, Zaheer Khan (not out) 8, Sairaj Bahutule lbw b Rogers 0, Extras (b-1, nb-3, w-7) 11, Total (for five wkts decl. in 35.5 overs) 128.

Fall of wickets : 1-89, 2-99, 3-116, 4- 125, 5-128.

CFX Academy XI bowling : McMillan 6-0-30-0, Nkala 6-3-5-0, Soma 9-2-36-0, Coulson 5-0-21-0, Irvine 7-1-21-1, Rogers 2.5-0-14-2.

CFX Academy XI-2nd innings : Dion Ibrahim c Dighe b Srinath 0, Terence Duffin b Srinath 4, Guy Croxford lbw b Srinath 15, Barney Rogers (not out) 65, Mluleki Nkala c Ganguly b Harbhajan 59, Sean Ervine lbw b Bahutule 0, Gary Brent c Dighe b Harbhajan 1, Campbell McMillan b Harbhajan 5, Leon Soma b Harbhajan 0, Ian Coulson c Laxman b Harbhajan 1, Wisdom Ciziba c (sub) Tendulkar b Harbhajan 0, Extras (b-4, nb-2, w-1) 7, Total 157 .

Fall of wickets : 1-0, 2-22, 3-25, 4-127, 5-128, 6- 129, 7-141, 8-147, 9-157.

Indians bowling : Srinath 7-3-9-3, Agarkar 6-2-13-0, Zaheer 6-1- 29-0, Ganguly 4-0-12-0, Harbhajan 16-6-37-6, Bahutule 14-0-53-1.

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