More than the win in the first Test, what the Indians will be pleased about is the way Harbhajan Singh bowled on the last day to take another three wickets. He was obviously a lot more relaxed after having captured his 200th wicket the previous day and the manner in which he tested the Zimbabwe batsmen and teased them with his variety was the feature of the couple of hours that the Zimbabwe tail occupied before succumbing to yet another Test defeat. What was also interesting was to see him bowl from round the wicket, which angle he isn’t very comfortable about.
The delivery that got Blignaut was a beauty that drew the left-hander forward to drive and that left enough of a gap, through which the ball sneaked through and left the batsman totally baffled. A similar delivery got the dangerous Dabengwa. India therefore have a lot of plusses from this game, the ‘return to century’ form of the captain Ganguly and Laxman and the swing bowling of Pathan and the manner in which Harbhajan bamboozled the hapless Zimbabwe batsmen. Though Kumble did not get too many wickets, he still was right on target and there’s nothing to worry on that front.
The concerns will be about Zaheer’s inconsistency, for he was a bit wayward with his no balls and wasn’t making the batsmen play at too many deliveries in the first innings. The casual dismissals of both openers, especially after they had got starts is another matter of concern and while it can be balanced by others as Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly did here, it may well be a different story against tougher opposition. It was good to see the way Irfan Pathan applied himself and got a fifty. It was a pity that he wasn’t able to get that one wicket that would have given him 10 for the match but its something that will come sooner rather than later, if he continues to be as hardworking and willing to learn as he is at the moment. India though need to remember that Harare hasn’t been the best of grounds for them and though the current Zimbabwe team isn’t as strong or competitive as those past teams that beat them, cricket is still a funny game, so complacency should be banished straightaway.
The major worry though, will be the fallout of the admission by Ganguly that he was asked to step aside for the first Test and while many will regard it as a reverse psychology and say it worked as Ganguly got a ton, there will be some who will be a bit concerned at the aftermath of such a situation. The simple fact is that Ganguly was appointed skipper for both Tests and One-Dayers for this tour and so any question of his stepping aside crops up only if he fails to deliver in the first Test. The national selection committee would no doubt have taken into consideration his form before they expressed a vote of confidence in him for the tour, else they would have only appointed him for the One-Dayers and waited to see his form before selecting the Test side but that they picked both teams at one go and had Ganguly as the captain, means that there was simply no question mark over his place in the side for the first Test.
Lots of print will have been used about this issue as well as air time, but out here there seems no such big issue and for Indian cricket’s sake, lets hope it is allowed to finish here itself than being debated ad nauseum by people who are at best speculating and not knowing the true sequence of events.
Indian cricket is often more about off field matters than on field and that’s one of the major reasons it gets bogged down and doesn’t progress, so how about letting the players go about their work and us trying to encourage and support them than trying to build a wall between them.
