New Delhi, November 19: Henry Olonga is a strange character. He wears spectacles while bowling fast, colours his hair orange and discolours them again. He sings like mad, has already done it in a Miss South Africa contest, so very soon that's going to be the means of livelihood for this bubbly cricketer from Zimbabwe. And, he can bat. Somehow, he had been Zimbabwe's Mr Executioner everytime a match against India hung in balance but only as a temperamental bowler, never with the bat. His batting, just as his singing, never really came up for discussion over team dinners. Oh, he was a slouch with willow, everybody knew. Ask any of the seven Indian bowlers who bowled some 90 deliveries at him; Or, the 15,000-odd Sunday house at the Kotla today who, for all the 158 minutes he batted, thought the next minute would be his last. Olonga batted, and batted, and batted before the big mercy for the Indian bowlers, and the home supporters came. It's just that mercy came from Zimbabwe skipper Heath Streak and not any of the bowlers Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly thinks make the "world's best bowling attack"! Yes, Streak had to declare the Zimbabwe first innings at 422 for nine or the holiday crowd, which had obviously come to see the Indians bat today, would have mocked at the humiliation the Zimbabwean last-wicket pair of Olonga and Andy Flower were heaping upon the Indians. Never mind if the declaration came with only three runs left for a 100-run stand, or Andy Flower just 17 runs shy of a maiden Test double hundred, it was the right lesson for the ultra-defensive Indians. Ask the Indian skipper if he still thinks only four specialist bowlers are needed to get international teams out, even though the rivals are Zimbabwe on a home strip. All the Indians could bat today, the second day of the Test was for a little over 28 minutes, and at nine without loss, their appeal for bad light found favour with the umpires. Another mercy, for had they lost a wicket in the evening, more heads would have hung in shame. A mere seven overs of batting today! Not a single soul expected this though, especially after paceman Javagal Srinath, the only Indian deserving a wicket got one on the very first delivery in the morning. What the crowd will remember for long, apart from the pathetic standard of Indian bowling, was the way southpaw Andy Flower coaxed the later-order Zimbabwe batsmen to frustrate the Indians. Andy Flower's unbeaten 183, his second century at the same venue (the first was in the '93 Test), may have been his career-best knock but credit must also be given to the way Paul Strang (56 balls), Brian Murphy (52 balls) and Olonga consolidated the position after Streak was done in by the Delhi smog and Srinath's swing in the morning. We all thought the second new ball would work wonders for the Indians but Andy Flower's preserverance won the battle for his team. Zimbabwe added just 190 runs to their overnight 232 for five. Of these Andy Flower alone contributed 128 runs, which is as good a rate as any. Andy Flower himself was candid in admitting that this was not his best innings. "This was nice but I think my best was the 156 against Pakistan ('94-95). I know there were some ugly shots today," he felt, adding, "I would have been happy with a 200 but the team comes first. The declaration was spot on." The poser for the Indians is the same as yesterday. Why did Ganguly not listen to the selectors and why did the new-imported coach John Wright tow his line of going in the Test with only four bowlers? The games, as they say, are getting curiouser for everybody to fathom. Are we trying to make a Javagal Srinath out of Zaheer Khan too? Strange isn't it, Srinath, who sat out for a number of Tests initially in his career, has not even played 50 Tests in the nine years of international cricket. Ganguly, who is certainly not the most powerful of men to have ever led India, has to take stock of his own cricketing sense. Maybe, a little bit of accounability and transperancy will help or things might reach a flashpoint where nobody will ever agree with anybody. Ajit Agarkar was the unluckiest of the Indian lot. He tried his best but there were a few catches dropped and some edges and nudges falling here and there of his bowling. The two left-arm spinners, Sunil Joshi and Murali Kartik were more in the limited-overs mould, not flighting or turning the ball. The only over Kartik gave the ball some air was his last of the day when Olonga's mistimed drive fell just inches short of Shiv Sundar Das in the covers. He has to improve drastically or else go back to the Railways and play Ranji Trophy for them. Maybe, he can still pick up wickets there. And, yes. India badly missed an off spinner who could turn the ball away from Andy Flower's left-handed stance.ScoreboardZIMBABWE (Ist innings): Grant Flower b Srinath 0 (19min, 15balls); Gavin Rennie c Dahiya b Srinath 13 (41m, 28b, 2x4); Stuart Carlisle c Joshi b Tendulkar 58 (207m, 156b, 10x4); Alistair Campbell c Laxman b Srinath 70 (210m, 154b, 9x4, 1x6); Andy Flower not out 183 (466m, 351b, 24x4, 2x6)Guy Whittal c Dravid b Joshi 0 (6m, 7b); Heath Streak c Dravid b Srinath 25 (104m, 85b, 3x4); Paul Strang c Ganguly b Joshi 19 (82m, 56b, 2x4); Brian Murphy run out 13 (63m, 52b, 1x4); Bryan Strang lbw Agarkar 6 (14m, 12b, 1x4); Henry Olonga not out 11 (158m, 90b, 1x4); Extras (b8, lb10, w4, nb2): 24; Total: (for 9 wkts decl): 422.Fall of wickets: 1-0 (G Flower), 2-15 (Rennie), 3-135 (Carlisle), 4-154 (Campbell), 5-155 (Whittal), 6-232 (Streak), 7-266 (P Strang), 8-312 (Murphy), 9-325 (B Strang).Bowling: Srinath 35-9-81-4, Agarkar 35-13-89-1, Ganguly 8-1-26-0, Joshi 46-11-116-2, Tendulkar 19-5-51-1, Kartik 24-7-40-0, Laxman 1-0-1-0.INDIA: S S Das batting (28m, 21b) 4; S Ramesh batting (28m, 21b) 3; Extras (b2): 2; Total: (for no loss): 9Bowling: Heath Streak 3-2-2-0Bryan Strang 3-2-4-0Brian Murphy 1-0-1-0
