Close Zimbabwe 152 for 4 (Gripper 52*, Kumble 3-47) and 287 trail India 570 for 7 dec (Tendulkar 176, Das 105, Bangar 100*) by 131 runs
scorecard

India moved closer to taking a 1-0 lead in the series, as Zimbabwe lost four wickets in their second innings and required a further 131 runs to avoid an innings defeat. After Sanjay Bangar's blistering 100 and Sachin Tendulkar's 176 had allowed India to declare 20 minutes before lunch with a first innings lead of 283, Anil Kumble did the job with the ball, taking three wickets, including the prized scalp of Andy Flower.

On a wicket which was getting increasingly treacherous to bat on, Zimbabwe's batsmen battled hard, but only Trevor Gripper kept it going, ending the day unbeaten on 52. Though Kumble picked up the wickets, Harbhajan Singh was the outstanding bowler, and was desperately unlucky not to be rewarded.

It could have been even worse for Zimbabwe, had Deep Dasgupta not dropped three catches. Alistair Campbell and Andy Flower were both reprieved before Kumble made amends, while nightwatchman Ray Price was put down third ball off Kumble – the ball took the edge and went between Dasgupta's legs to the boundary. Gripper had a piece of luck too, when the ball ricocheted off his bat and rolled on to the stumps, but did not dislodge the bails. Harbhajan was the luckless bowler.

Zimbabwe were unfortunate to lose their first wicket though – Stuart Carlisle was given out lbw to Zaheer Khan which despite the ball pitching about four inches outside leg stump. But umpire Venkataraghavan agreed with the vociferous appeal and Carlisle went for 28 (32 for 1).

Campbell and Gripper saw off most of the afternoon, but Kumble struck off the last ball before tea, as Campbell was caught by VVS Laxman at slip for 30 (80 for 2).

The last time Andy Flower was here - in 2000-01 - he made an unbeaten 232. This time he managed just 8, as a lifter from Kumble caught the shoulder of his bat and lobbed to Rahul Dravid at silly point (103 for 3).

Gavin Rennie became the third batsman to get past 20 without capitalising. Bowling into the rough from round the wicket, Kumble got one to lift sharply after pitching, and Rennie could only glove it to substitute Virender Sehwag at backward short-leg (147 for 4). Rennie played a couple of controlled sweeps off the spinners, and his innings promised more.

At the other end, Gripper hung on grimly. He showed exemplary technique against the spinners, defending with soft hands and dropping the ball in front of him. On the few occasions he attacked, he looked good too – a lofted straight-drive off Harbhajan and a pull off Zaheer stood out for their execution.

Earlier, Bangar and Tendulkar tore into Zimbabwe's hapless bowlers in the morning, scoring an astounding 133 runs in 20.5 overs, as the holiday crowd at Nagpur has plenty to cheer about.

Zimbabwe made their first mistake even before the first ball was bowled – Carlisle claimed the new ball, despite the fact that a similar move yesterday had led to a barrage of runs.

Bangar – a regular opener for Railways in domestic cricket – showed that he was up to the challenge at the higher level too. After Tendulkar had eased a single off the first ball of the day, Bangar clipped Heath Streak superbly to the square-leg fence.

Ray Price shared the new ball, and Bangar immediately took charge, on-driving him twice over mid-on, and once over extra-cover, for fours.

Inspired by his partner, Tendulkar came into his own, creaming Streak for three fours. A delicate dab past first slip raced to third man, a flick off an in-swinging full toss blitzed past square-leg – bringing up Tendulkar's 150 and the 100 for the sixth wicket – and two balls later, he whipped one from off stump to the midwicket boundary.

Price went for 45 runs in seven overs and was forced to resort to an outside-the-leg-stump line. He finally got Tendulkar to miscue an attempted hoick to Andy Flower at gully (546 for 6). The sixth-wicket partnership put together 171 runs – an Indian record for this wicket against Zimbabwe.

Watambwa, brought into the attack after the drinks break, struck in the next over, defeating Zaheer Khan's attempted slog and sending his off stump cartwheeling (547 for 7) for a duck.

Kumble ensured that Bangar got to his century, and Sourav Ganguly wasted no time in calling his players in. With four batsmen already back in the hutch, India would fancy their chances of wrapping up the rest of Zimbabwe's innings on the final morning.

S Rajesh is sub editor, Wisden.com India.

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