da aposte e ganhe： On both past record and present form, Zimbabwe look to standlittle chance of winning either the two-Test series or the fivematch one-day series on their short tour of India
da brwin： Partab Ramchand20-Feb-2002On both past record and present form, Zimbabwe look to standlittle chance of winning either the two-Test series or the fivematch one-day series on their short tour of India. Even grantingthe fact that India did not exactly cover themselves with gloryin the recent matches against England, a side like Zimbabweshould not pose much of a problem for the Indian team with theirenviable record at home.Not that everything is hunky-dory as far as the Indian team isconcerned. If Zimbabwe are lying ninth in the Test table, Indiaare not very far ahead and, as both the Test and the one-dayersagainst England showed, there are chinks in the armour that canbe exploited. However, it is doubtful whether Zimbabwe, withcertain inherent weaknesses, will be able to pierce them.At least the visitors are aware of the tough task ahead, and thatis a healthy start. “It is a great challenge to play againstIndia on their own soil, and we have to work very hard,” saidZimbabwe coach Geoff Marsh shortly after arrival. The formerAustralian opening batsman has played in India many times and isno doubt aware of the tremendous record of the home team infamiliar environs, as also the fact that Zimbabwe have lost twoTests and drawn one on the two previous tours of India.
© CricInfoBut the visitors do have a few things going for them. They arrivein India having been really match-hardened during the season.Since September, they have hosted South Africa and England andthen toured Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The results have beenmixed, but of particular relevance and a probable pointertowards events in the coming weeks is the fact they werewhitewashed 3-0 on the recent Sri Lankan tour. They found MuttiahMuralitharan too hot too handle, and similar experiences are onthe cards against Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.The Zimbabwe squad, at present, is as strong as it can be. Therecall of Alistair Campbell will not only strengthen the battingbut will also boost the team’s confidence. On skill andexperience, Campbell is still one of Zimbabwe’s best players. Aveteran of 56 Tests, he was dropped from the squad in Octoberlast year and, although his axing was officially put down to alack of fitness and patchy form, he had earlier been accused ofmaking racist comments in a British newspaper. Although the lefthander later apologised, he is still under the threat of asuspended four-match ban should he step out of line again.Despite Campbell’s presence, there is little doubt that theplayer garnering all the attention will be Andy Flower and withgood reason. For one thing, he is currently the number onebatsman in some of the cricket ratings. Secondly, the pugnaciousleft-hander’s marvelous run with the bat on the last tour ofIndia in November 2000 should boost his confidence no end. In twoTests, Flower scored 540 runs at a phenomenal average of 270. Hisscores were 183 not out, 70, 55 and 232 not out. In all, hebatted 1331 minutes and faced 1021 deliveries surely one of thegreat endurance feats in cricket history, considering the factthat it was for a losing team. The only snag is that, not toolong ago, Murali cut him to size, and Flower was reduced toscores of 42, 10, 8, 11, 6 and 3 in three Tests. Still, with acareer average of 53.55 from 59 Tests, Flower remains Zimbabwe’snumber one batsman of all time.Flower is also a former captain, but this tour will see himrelieved of both keeping and leadership duties. The stump-workwill be handled by teenager Tatenda Taibu, who made such a fineimpression on his international debut in the one-day tri-seriesinvolving India, West Indies and hosts Zimbabwe last year. Thereare in fact four former captains in the side Andy and GrantFlower, Heath Streak and Campbell led now by middle-orderbatsman Stuart Carlisle.
© CricInfoThe bowling will again depend heavily on vice-captain HeathStreak, who was the captain when Zimbabwe last toured India. Thepace spearhead, who will be playing in his 50th Test at Nagpur,is the only Zimbabwean to have completed the Test double of 1,000runs and 100 wickets. A notable absentee from the touring squadis erratic pace bowler Henry Olonga, who has been plagued byinjuries. The batting will revolve around the Flower brothers like his elder brother, Grant too has played 59 Tests Carlisle,Campbell, opener Dion Ebrahim and Craig Wishart. Other well-knownnames include utility players Travis Friend, Trevor Gripper andGavin Rennie.But then, matches are won not only on the field but also off it,and Carlisle has not missed out on the psychological trick. Awareof the tough task his bowlers face, and perhaps in a bid toencourage them, the visiting captain has hinted that India’s topthree batsmen – Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid- have been “marked” by Zimbabwe.In an interview during the opening match of the tour, Carlislesaid that he and his team members had closely observed thebatting techniques of the three players. “We studied theirstrengths and weaknesses with great care and have identifiedcertain grey areas in each of these players,” Carlisle isreported to have said. Predictably enough, the Zimbabwe captaindid not spell out the ‘grey areas,’ but the visitors, likeEngland before them, are obviously looking to capitalise on thetendency of the Indian batsmen to succumb to pressure tactics.However, given the fact that a rookie like Gautam Gambhir took adouble century off the Zimbabwe attack at Vijayawada, one cansafely say that the bowlers are in for a hard time againstTendulkar and Co. As on their last visit, Zimbabwe’s batting willhave to come off if they are to fare well in both Tests and oneday internationals.
© AFPIf the Zimbabweans are need of inspiration, they need look nofurther than the performance of England on their recent tour, andthat is the approach that the team’s think-tank Marsh, Carlisleand Streak – have been talking about on their arrival. They areof the view that, if they have a positive attitude, they have thepotential to do well. Last time around, they lost the two-Testseries 1-0 and went down 4-1 in the one-day series. Thankschiefly to the efforts of Andy Flower, they were beaten but notdisgraced. However, Zimbabwe will have to perform extraordinarilywell if they want to give India a good run for their money. Theunderdog tag could be of some help in this regard.The Indian team has innumerable factors in their favour, and ifthey only play up to potential they should have little difficultyin wrapping up both series. The retention of Ganguly as captainwas expected. All the same, it is healthy that he is aware thereare other contenders for the captaincy. It should spur him on togreater deeds, both as batsman and captain.He has started off well by calling upon the youngsters to sharemore of the burden. A major factor in India failing to win theone-day series against England was the fact that theinexperienced middle order failed to build upon the electrifyingstarts given by Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Ganguly himself.As for his recent run drought in Tests, it is to be hoped thatGanguly makes the most of a gilt-edged opportunity against agenerally stingless Zimbabwe attack to come back into prime form.He has been spending a lot of time at the nets trying to sort outhis problems with fast, short-pitched deliveries, and as heoptimistically asserted in a recent interview, “The Zimbabwe tourmight see the end of my failures with the bat.”It goes without saying that Dravid’s return will strengthen thealready formidable middle order, and whatever worries the teammanagement might have on certain aspects the openers, thewicket-keeper and the inadequate bowling strength should beunfounded against Zimbabwe. A batting line-up of Shiv Sunder Das,Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Sehwag and VVS Laxman, and a bowlingattack of Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Tinu Yohannan, Harbhajan,Kumble and Sarandeep Singh, with Deep Dasgupta behind the stumpsand the utility qualities of the promising Sanjay Bangar, shouldbe strong enough to shrug off Zimbabwe’s challenge. It onlyremains to be seen whether a contest between teams placed atnumbers eight and nine in the rankings will rake in the crowds.
