Alistair, Andy frustrate Indian bowlers

Alistair Campbell and Andy Flower, both batting in their 80s, took advantage of Sharandeep’s inability, even as they benefited from the other bowlers, and helped Zimbabwe take a slender lead after they were forced to follow-on before Lunch.

Still, Sharandeep can keep his head high. He can draw inspiration from the Zimbabwean skipper Heath Streak’s statement that he (Sharandeep) was the bowler who troubled the left-handers most. Indian captain Saurav Ganguly was curt. ‘‘Sharandeep bowled well,’’ he told the reporters without going into more details. He seemed to have great faith in Sharandeep’s ability of turning the match in favour of India when he said that only spinners could do well on the VCA wicket.

Javagal Srinath did not get a chance to share the new ball in Zimbabwe’s follow-on innings even after winding up the Zimbabwean tail with his morning burst. He did come out to bowl in the later part of the day, but Campbell and Andy Flower overpowered the paceman by hitting some fine shots.

Ganguly experimented from both the ends, but the Zimbabweans were confident throughout the afternoon.

There was punishment in store for the two spinners, Sharandeep and Sunil Joshi in the post-Tea session. They conceded more than 70 runs each. Joshi suffered more as he gave away 72 runs in his 18 overs without any wicket. He could have got the prized scalp of Andy Flower, who was dropped by Ganguly in the slips.

Earlier, Zimbabwe resumed at 359-6 and perished to Srinath’s fury (6.1-3-3-3) within an hour. Grant Flower, batting overnight at 91, managed to remain unbeaten on 106. It was his sixth Test ton, coming after two years of the last.Grant is yet to bat in the second innings. The Zimbabwean captain Streak said he was looking forward to Grant for getting a challenging lead, and force India to chase the target on the last day.

Scoreboard

India: (1st innings) 609-6 declared
Zimbabwe: (1st innings)
G Whittal c Dravid b Sharandeep 84 (164b, 246mts, 12×4)
G Rennie run out 19 (27b, 55mts, 2×4)
S Carlisle c&b Agarkar 51 (103b, 134mts, 8×4)
A Campbell c Ramesh b Sharandeep Singh 4 (35b, 41mts, 1×4)
A Flower c Dahiya b Agarkar 55 (92b, 122mts, 4×4, 2×6)
G Flower not out 106 (196b, 272mts, 12×4, 4×6)
D Viljoen c Dahiya b Z Khan 19 (42b, 71mts, 2×4)
H Streak lbw Srinath 16 (28b, 35mts, 2×4)
M Nakla c Dahiya b Srinath 06 (23b, 30mts, 1×4)
B Murphy c Das b Joshi 0 (7b 5mts)
H Olonga b Srinath 0 (1b, 8mts)
Extras: (b6, lb 12, nb3, w1) 22
Total: (all out in 120.1 overs) 382
Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2,144, 3-165, 4-166, 5-262, 6- 324, 7-359, 8-371, 9-372
Bowling: Srinath 28.1-7-81-3, Z Khan 21-3-78-1, Joshi 25-7-69-1, Agarkar 23-7-59-2, S Singh 22-7-70-2, Tendulkar 1-0-7-0.
Zimbabwe (2nd innings)
G Whittal c Tendulkar b S Singh 11 (31b, 38mts, 2×4)
G Rennie c Ganguly b S Singh 37 (55b, 69mts, 6×4)
S Carlisle c Tendulkar b S Singh 08 (17b, 26mts, 2×4)
A Campbell batting 83 (228b, 168mts, 12×4)
A Flower batting 88 (188b, 226mts, 10×4, 2×6)
Extras: 11 (B2, lb 6, nb3)
Total: (for three wickets in 73 overs) 238
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-60, 3-61
Bowling: Khan 8-1-21-0, Agarkar 9-1-24-0 Singh 25-4-76-3, Joshi 18-3-72-0, Tendulkar 8-2-12-0, Srinath 8-2-25-0.